Naruto: Black Sun
by TheWriteFiction
Summary: During a cold winter's day at the academy, Naruto doesn't save Hinata from the bullies- but someone else. How will this chance encounter at the very beginning of his life alter the course of his fate- as well as that of the shinobi world? [Chaotic Good/Evil Naruto] [NarutoHarem]
1. Prologue - A Chance Encounter

**Author's Note:** The story starts off from the moment where Naruto initially saved Hinata from those three bullies in the snow at the start of _**The Last Naruto The Movie**_, at the cost of him getting beaten up. However, it's here that Naruto doesn't run into Hinata, but someone else.

* * *

**NARUTO**

_**Black Sun**_

_Prologue_

_"Inside each of us, there is the seed of both good and evil. It's a constant struggle as to which one will win. And one cannot exist without the other."_

_-Eric Burdon_

* * *

Cold.

That was what Naruto was feeling the most right now.

Cold. Frigid. Icy. But above all miserable. The tiny flakes of snow cascading down around him only seemed to emphasize just how biting the winter in _Konohagakure_ (Village Hidden in the Leaves) really was. It was almost felt like the blond had been snatched up from the warm, temperate paradise of _Hi no Kuni_ (Land of Fire) and thrust into the bleak, unforgiving landscapes of the countries to the far north. Though Naruto had never actually been to places like _Yuki no Kuni_ (Land of Snow) and _Kaminari no Kuni_ (Land of Lightning) before, the youngster could only imagine that the weather in those nations was exactly like this one… but probably a lot worse.

The most irritating part about all of this though wasn't just the feeling of cold, wet drops grazing against his skin or the needle chill brought on by the light breeze drifting over the area, but the hollow sensation of complete and utter isolation gripping his chest.

As Naruto dragged his feet through the many lumps and mounds of snow covering the footpath in front of him, the child was made keenly aware of just how empty the park around him was. Able to count every single tree and bush standing in his line of sight- their trunks greyed and iced over from the many days of frost that'd already passed- the six-year-old in the white and orange jacket and blue pants glanced over his shoulder, where he spotted the familiar building of Konoha's Ninja Academy standing at the other end of the tunnel of foliage.

Noticing all the other kids from his class playing in the yard just beneath the academy's famous red sign hanging over the main entrance, the spiky haired blond let out a long, dejected sigh.

"_Man… and I thought I'd be able to get to play with someone today,"_ Naruto thought, turning around and kicking at the ground again as he continued to slog forward. _"Guess I was wrong."_

And his day had been going so well too. Since this morning, he was able to make a good impression on Iruka-sensei by answering a few of the questions he was able to pose to the class, he did the work set for the students and finished on time, and he even did a pretty cool drawing during free study too. However, when it came time for the lunch play-period and Naruto attempted to ask several of the kids if he could play with them, they all turned him down and told him to go away.

Even after all of the effort he'd put into doing his work for the day and hoping that it would result in some good karma for him, all the child got back were a bunch of cold shoulders and disgusted expressions from the boys and girls. Needless to say, it'd been a very disheartening turn of events.

This led to the youngster going on yet another solitary walk through the academy's local reserve, an area that encompassed the entire property the school was built on. After managing to walk through the tunnel leading away from the building, Naruto eventually happened upon the wooden swing hanging next to the path. It was the place he usually went to whenever he was upset, needed to clear his head, or didn't have anything else to do.

However, instead of deciding to play and sulk on this piece of equipment like he had countless times before, the blond instead adjusted his red scarf, fixed the goggles he had over his forehead, and kept on walking.

Stepping off the frozen path and into the slumbering forest surrounding this part of the school, Naruto tried to find something else to occupy himself with. At first, he spent his time playing amongst the trunks, running between them, and hopping over a fallen log by pretending it was on fire. He even gathered up some snow to throw it at a low-hanging branch to see if he could dislodge the mound that'd gathered on top of it. These acts of self-play occupied him for a short while, before once again leaving him with next to nothing to do.

It was one of the many burdens he had to live with being completely and utterly alone. No family. No parents. No friends.

Honestly, no matter how many times he was reminded of his state of existence, Naruto knew he would never get used to it.

Hearing the sound of kids laughing and playing in the background as he marched through the cold snow had the boy click his tongue in annoyance while pocketing his hands. _"This sucks. I hate it,"_ he thought, pushing his shoulders up as he felt his feet starting to get affected by walking through the snow. _"I just… want this all to change."_

Around the time the blond thought his day was just going to keep going downhill, a new commotion nearby suddenly caught his attention. The distinct sounds of cackling reaching his ears and causing his head to perk up, Naruto quickly tracked the disturbance to a clearing nearby. When he looked past the tree, he saw three boys surrounding a girl- all of whom were looking at her with rather foul and unpleasant grins on their faces.

Quickly moving over to get a closer look, the whiskered blond immediately recognized the young men as boys from a class two years above his own- a typical, bland-looking trio with average skills and average test scores. It was a group that the blond had had a couple of encounters with in the past, both of which had not ended well for him.

Though Naruto had no idea what the three boys' names were, he certainly knew what kind of crowd they ran with. They were the kind that were too proud and too smart for their own good, who made a living looking down on him and picking on others for either being weird or being weak. In other words, they were a mob made up of the kind that Naruto hated and despised the most.

As soon as the blond laid eyes on them and saw what they were up to, a frown quickly graced his lips and his hands clenched into fists. His grip only seemed to tighten even more when he heard their exasperating squawking transform into words, all of which were being directed to the small girl standing between them.

"Hey! We know you!" one of the boys exclaimed.

"You're that puny shrimp who fell off the monkey bars on the obstacle course that one time!" another of the youngsters laughed. "The one that didn't even make it halfway across!"

"Yeah! You fell flat in the mud and went crying to the nurse's office," the boss of the trio- a kid wearing a green jacket, striped scarf and a backwards facing red cap- shouted again while leaning forward and grinning meanly. "My friends and I saw what happened from the second floor of the school. The sound you made when you hit the floor was great."

"Ha-ha! Yeah! It was hilarious!" the fattest, shortest boy of the group wearing a beanie chuckled.

Observing from where he stood behind the tree, Naruto saw that the three older boys were pestering a young girl he couldn't remember ever seeing before. Figuring that she was new to the school, the blonde saw the youngster they were antagonizing was a young female of six years of age, with light ivory skin, light brown eyes, and long brown hair that was braided into a ponytail that hung over her left shoulder. Unlike the other girls in the school, who liked to wear a lot of casual clothes during the seasons, this one was dressed very elegantly- sporting a purple kimono that was cut just below the knees, a pink obi wrapped around her torso, a thick white scarf around her neck, and wooden sandals with white socks underneath for the cold.

She was much shorter compared to the three boys, making the sight reminiscent of a kitten being preyed upon by three older cats. Judging from her posture as well, she appeared to be very scared and upset- as evident by how her arms were folded in front of her to protect the folder she was carrying, and the way her face was cast downwards and twisted- as if attempting to hold back tears.

The sight was enough to draw a low growl from Naruto's throat. His disapproval was only further elevated when he saw the boys continue to pick on her.

"You're really funny looking for a girl. All dressed up and colourful- like a flower," the boss of the trio exclaimed, at the same time getting his face right up in front of the girl's and causing her to lurch back in a distressed manner. "This is a school for ninjas. Not flowers."

"Ha-ha! Look at her! She's scared," the rotund youngster laughed, at the same time reaching forward and giving her a good shove, causing the girl to whimper fearfully. The sight also caused a watching Naruto's teeth to clench and fists to ball even tighter- indicating his patience was finally reaching its limits. "Are you frightened, little flower?"

"Why would the teachers let such a weak little chicken into our school?" the third, tallest boy asked, drawing another round of laughs from his companions.

Naruto, figuring he'd seen enough of this nonsense, prepared to storm forward and confront the bullies. However, upon taking a step forward, the blonde's shoulder hit the trunk of the tree that he was standing next to, which stopped him in his tracks. This in turn gave him pause for thought.

"_There's three of them,"_ Naruto thought.

Three against one.

Yeah. He remembered being in this situation before- all alone, outnumbered, and with no backup or help to speak of. The worst thing about these kinds of bullies was that they were only a threat when they were in a place where no one could see them and in groups, which allowed them to gang up on whoever they had as their target and overwhelm them with brute force.

Looking back on all his previous encounters, Naruto realized that while confronting them head on was bold, admirable, and allowed him to flex his valour in a big way, it was also incredibly risky and stupid. His numerous trips to the nurse's office and days spent in bed recovering were big proof of this, which quickly had him back down on his initial charge. If he tried going in half-cocked the way he was, he knew right away that he was going to get his ass-handed to him.

With his clumsy, impromptu impact with the tree trunk helping him to restart his brain, the boy quickly began thinking up a different strategy. Looking down at the ground, the boy spied a pile of snow resting alongside some half-buried rocks and sticks, along with some foliage that was slowly decomposing due to the harsh conditions surrounding them.

After looking at this stuff and then glancing up at the tree next to him, Naruto was then hit with an idea. A determined grin spreading across his lips, the blonde then ducked down and began stuffing his pockets with rocks.

As for the bullies, they were really starting to get their jollies picking on the girl, which prompted them to start ramping up their efforts.

"You should just go home. Stop coming to this school and wasting everybody's time," the fat boy said while puffing his chest out.

"Only strong, brave people are able to become ninjas. Not timid little flower girls like you," the boss remarked afterwards, causing the girl to flinch.

"Think about becoming something else," the taller boy concluded with a nod, his thin mouth grinning broadly while his earmuffs slid up his head slightly. "Something that the weak, boring villagers can do."

Glancing up at the lead boy from under her fringe, the well-dressed youngster sniffed before speaking in a soft voice. "I… I…"

The trio's leader stepped even closer to her, to the point his grinning mug was right up in front of her. "Huh? What's that? Speak up. I can't hear you."

Clenching her teeth, the shivering, tearful child then lifted her head and barked as loudly as she dared at the three boys. "I… I want to become a ninja! Nothing else, you jerks!"

Her shout, which was broken by the sound of her voice squeaking part way through, had the three youngsters pause for a moment, before they then started guffawing hysterically once again. Clutching their sides and throwing their heads back, the pack of hyenas continued to revel in the sight of the girl's defiant, tearful face glaring back at them, before the leader swung his head back down and scoffed at her.

"In your dreams, dummy!"

"A useless girl like you will never become a ninja!" the fat one shouted.

"What's this?" the tall one shouted, at the same time attempting to snatch the folder the girl was carrying out of her hands. Managing to get his fingers on it, he then yanked it to him, only to meet immediate resistance when the younger girl's hands snapped around the book and pulled it back. The boy grunted when he attempted to pull it from her but ended up struggling when the youngster fought back. "Ragh! Give it here!"

"NO!" the girl shouted, growling as she wrestled with the clearly stronger boy as she felt her grip starting to falter. "L-Let go! Let go!"

"Ha! Like hell I'll-GAAH!" A shout of pain left the boy's lips when his head was unexpectedly knocked to the side by something small and hard hitting him square in the temple.

His friends stood surprised, as did the girl when she felt the tall bully release his hold on her folder, allowing her to backpedal out of harm's way. By the time the taller boy regained his balance, he and his companions realized he'd been hit in the head with a small stone, which then had them look around in alarm.

"Hey! Who threw that?!" the boss shouted, only to give a yelp of his own when he was struck in the face by a thick ball of snow, which cracked against his cheek and splattered all over him.

"Up here, you morons!" a voice called out, drawing the boys' attention upwards.

When all eyes in the area fixed upon the top of a nearby tree, they saw the smirking form of Naruto standing there and looking down at them. Not expecting to get attacked by another kid from out of the blue, the three bullies were unable to say or do anything when the whiskered-youngster, tossing a ball of snow up and down in his hand, then cranked back said hand and pitched the ball down at them.

"Take this!" Naruto shouted, hitting the rotund kid right on the top of the head.

"Ow!" the boy shouted when the ball of snow exploded against his skull and splattered down his neck and jumper. "What in the-"

The boss, growling through clenched teeth, then waved a fist up at the blonde. "HEY! Just who the hell do you think you-AAH!" He was effectively cut off by another object hitting him in the face- this time a rock. Clutching the spot where the tiny rock had hit, the youngster stumbled backwards in alarm- while at the same time the brown-haired girl watched the scene with a look of utter surprise and intrigue. "Ow-ow-OW! That freakin' hurt!"

Grinning at seeing the boy's rank broken, Naruto then grabbed a handful of rocks from his pocket, loaded his other hand with one, and inhaled deeply. "BOMBARDMEEEEEENT!" Upon giving his gutsy battle cry, the blonde then began chucking rock after rock down at the three boys in the clearing, using devilishly spot-on aim to hit each of them one after the other at random.

Quickly shielding themselves with their arms, the three boys braced themselves as they suddenly came under fire by the clever little monkey up in the tree. While a couple of them attempted to pick up some rocks and return fire, thanks to the position he'd chosen and the high angle Naruto was elevated at, none of the boys' shots were able to make their mark. So, with counterattacking being useless and with no effective cover to speak of, all the bullies could do was stand there and flail their arms uselessly as they were subjected to the relentlessly rain of attacks being thrown at them by the whiskered youngster.

Naruto's assault was relentless. Due to the high volume of rocks and sticks he'd collected, the blond was able to spam the shit out of his ammunition as he threw not only large rocks, but entire fistfuls of gravel. Not letting up for even a moment, he kept on hocking rocks even when the one of the boys got cut above the eye and another one started crying.

When several of the rocks clipped their ears, legs and other weak spots, sending sharp bolts of pain shooting through them, the alarmed and disorientated bullies made the wise and unanimous decision to retreat. The boss went first, turning heel and running, while his two friends sprinted after him.

"W-We'll get you for this, you twerp! You hear me?!" the older boy's voice cried out, followed immediately by a comical 'OW' when he ended up hit in the butt cheek by another rock thrown by Naruto.

Taking aim with another big one, the blond prepared to throw it. But when he saw the three boys vanish, the youngster lowered his round stone and nodded victoriously, before then dropping down from the tree to touch down in the snow. Jogging forward, he then shouted after them.

"AND DON'T COME BACK, DATTEBAYO!" Naruto barked, kicking at the snow in a sign of dominance. His heart still pounding in his ears, the whiskered youngster huffed and smiled happily, as for the first time in his life he'd finally managed to win a fight.

Allowing his triumph to marinate for a little while, the child then left out a sharp breath of air, before spinning around to face the girl he'd helped save. Seeing her standing beside a tree a few yards away, the youngster quickly trotted over to her. When he stopped and saw the youngster stiffen up, Naruto then gave her a look of concern.

"Are… Are you okay?" he asked.

Feeling her breath catch in her throat, the brown-haired girl initially had no idea how to respond.

At first finding herself backed into a corner and pressed into a situation where she had no chance of evading her antagonists, the newcomer to the academy soon found herself playing the part of a witness to the most spectacular display of heroism she could ever remember seeing. A boy with blond hair, whiskers, and a red scarf, taking the high ground against a group of older bullies and chasing them off, all by his lonesome.

And most surprising of all, he looked to be about the same age as she was.

Swallowing nervously at the sincere smile she saw her spiky haired hero give her, the girl in the purple kimono and white scarf nodded meekly. "Y-Yes… I'm fine. Thank you." When she saw the child brighten up at her expression of gratitude, the brunette felt her own sense of self perk up. "That was… That was amazing. I can't believe you managed to chase those awful boys away."

Naruto, feeling his chest swell slightly at the girl's remark, chuckled while rubbing his nose in a bashful manner. "Well… to be honest, I didn't think I'd be able to pull it off. Most of the time I try to fight off whole groups of idiots, I always end up getting ganged up on and having the stuffing kicked out of me." He then clenched his fist and held it in front of him tightly. "But I showed them. This time, I'm the one giving the smackdown. Not them!"

Heartbeat racing, the girl beamed as she stepped closer to the whiskered child. "You were so brave." Upon getting a good look at his face and seeing him smile back at her, the girl suddenly blinked in realization. "Oh. Hang on. Y-You're from Iruka-sensei's class…"

Naruto blinked in surprise and lowered his arm. "Yeah. I am." He then leaned forward slightly. "Have we… Have we met?"

The girl shook her head. "No. But I remember seeing you out on the quad a few times during fitness and shinobi training."

"You did, huh?" Naruto murmured, not sure whether her seeing him was a good thing or a bad thing- especially when he couldn't ever remember spotting her amongst a crowd. Surely a well-dressed girl like her would be easy to make out. Guess he was still as dense as ever. Relaxing a little, the blond smiled. "I… guess that must mean you're from Suzume-sensei's class. From room 2A?"

The girl nodded her head briskly before smiling warmly at the blond, her cheeks reddening as she looked back at him. "I'm Yakumo… Yakumo Kurama." She then became somewhat embarrassed as she straightened her arms in front of her over her folder and rocked nervously on the spot. "What's your name?"

The blond youngster cracked a smile. "I'm Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki. It's nice to meet you."

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

**Author's Note:** This was a concept I was interested in trying out. A Naruto who runs into Yakumo Kurama, in which both of them aid each other in developing their strengths and fixing their weaknesses. I think this one has a lot of potential.

Naruto is bold, physically strong, and capable in ninjutsu, but lacks strategy, intelligence or a mind for genjutsu.

Yakumo is absurdly talented in genjutsu and intelligent, but lacks stamina, physical strength, and any skills in ninjutsu and taijutsu.

What they both have in common however is passion and drive- both striving to be the best that they can be. They also both have inner demons, with Naruto having Kurama and Yakumo having Ido, so when both of them come into play I bet it will make for some interesting Chaotic Good or maybe later Chaotic Evil characters down the line.

Ever since I introduced Yakumo into my Maoyu story, I always wondered how she and Naruto would react in a story that more or less follows canon. While I will make alterations to the timeline here and there, any and all OCs I include are minor. I'm going to try avoid using them when I can. What I want to focus on is building a world around Naruto and Yakumo that fits their natures.

I want to see how the timeline alters when Naruto's fate is changed and interwoven with a different girl in his life- one that can perhaps help elevate him to become a different person. Whether this person will end up the same in the original canon, good or evil, we'll have to wait and see.


	2. Academy Arc - An Unexpected Bond

**Author's Note:** This is going to be an establishing chapter for events to come. What I'm hoping for is one last chapter after this one before the Genin Graduation Arc. I plan on covering a lot in the next one, but this here I feel sets the chain of events to follow nicely.

* * *

**NARUTO**

_**Black Sun**_

_An Unexpected Bond_

"_There is something inherently valuable about being a misfit. It's not to say that every person who has artistic talent was a social outcast, but there is definitely a value for identifying yourself differently and being proud that you are different."_

_-Daniel Radcliffe_

* * *

For the first time in his entire life, Naruto felt like his string of bad luck, misfortune, and loneliness had finally been turned around. Barring his brief stint of solitude during the first half of that lunch-play period, the young academy student had done the unthinkable and come out ahead- not only managing to scare off a group of bullies who would've kicked the crud out of him on any other day, but also triumphing over them and saving someone from their machinations in the process. On top of that, he'd also managed to capture the interests of this exact same person, who not only developed an immediate liking in him, but found a great deal of intrigue in his character and personality.

Following their first meeting out in the forest and exchanging of names, the pair of odd, kind, yet lonely children wasted no time in making the most of that moment to talk and hang out. Using up whatever lunch play they had left, the pair gabbed about themselves, commented on the weather, and had a short walk through the forest together. During this time Naruto was able to show Yakumo the swing he used and would often hang on whenever he was alone so that she could have a play on it. He even gave her a push when she asked him to help her, which he happily did.

Unfortunately, the time that the pair had left to enjoy their break period was cut off by the sound of the school bell going off a few minutes later- telling all the children who were out to return to class. Before the pair parted ways after walking one another back to the entrance, both Naruto and Yakumo quickly set times and places where they could meet up with one another in the upcoming days.

Clearly the two of them weren't done learning about the other kid that they'd just met- and both were eager to make the most of this fated encounter.

And so, in the weekdays following his epic shootout with the boys in the snow, Naruto found himself eagerly waking up every morning so that he could rush to school and meet up with Yakumo. Every day, without fail, the pair would greet each other at the front of the academy before homeroom, where they would then hang out and chat outside before walking each other to their classrooms. And then at recess and lunch, after all their work and studying for the in between periods was finished, the pair would rendezvous in the quad and go to either play in the forest or hang out in the clearing beside the playground. And then, at the end of the day, both would spend their time wandering the markets and parks outside of the school together before heading home.

The best part about all of this is that unlike the other kids Naruto had tried to spend time with before, Yakumo didn't leave him after the first few days of play due to unknown or family reasons. In fact, the girl seemed incredibly adamant in wanting to hang out with the boy during their free time, which helped to bring a sense of warmth and comfort to the blonde's otherwise bleak and miserable weeks.

The reason for her insistence in this matter was quite an interesting tale.

Since Yakumo started late at the academy and was new to the whole school system, she hadn't had the opportunity to make any friends. A lot of the kids didn't know her, due to the fact she'd spent most of her early years studying at home, and a lot of the girls avoided her because she seemed very different from them. Naruto found out on their second lunch period together that the reason Yakumo hadn't come to school before was because she was born with a weak body and had to be raised at home for the first few years in order to grow and get stronger. It was only recently after developing a little more and insisting to her parents that she wanted to be with other kids her own age that she was finally allowed to sign up at the academy.

Sadly, even though she was a very friendly, outgoing and kind young girl, Yakumo had been unable to make any headway in connecting with others or becoming part of any groups. Even after months of trying, Yakumo was still looked upon as the black sheep in the class by the rest of her peers. It was only until the winter season that she was finally able to interact with someone- and that person was more than eager to become a part of her life.

Thus, Yakumo welcomed Naruto with open arms, as did the blond.

In the weeks that came and went following their first afternoon spent together, the pair spent many days stuck to one another like glue. Given their age and level of knowledge, the pair spent a lot of hours hanging out on the playground, walking through the woods, and chatting enthusiastically with one another. When they would play, they would partake in some light ball games on the grass, run around the climbing equipment having a game of pretend, play hide and seek, or sit side by side on the swing sets just kicking it back. Because Yakumo's body was still very weak and her stamina still had much to be desired, the girl couldn't play very hard with Naruto for very long- so the blond learned quickly to go easy on her whenever they were running around.

Whenever she got tired, the pair would sit together on the grass or bench and chat for the remainder of the period. This being the first time they had anyone their own age to really talk to, the two of them would gab on and on about all sorts of topics- including the weather, their likes, their dislikes, the food that they ate over the weekend, the food they were going to eat for dinner, the things their teachers talked about in class, the kind of games they liked or wished to play, and their interests. Since time seemed to fly by for everyone during recess and lunch, the pair were only given so many minutes to talk and play- at least thirty minutes per block. This meant that the two of them were able to stretch out entire subjects for days at a time.

Despite this rather inconvenient obstacle- as well as the fact that their time was divided up between classes and learning- Naruto and Yakumo still had a great time hanging out together. By the time winter turned to spring and a new season started, both kids had become incredibly close friends- to the point it became a common sight to see the two of them hanging out during every break and in public.

For the kids that knew Naruto and who he was, seeing him spending so much time with another student was an incredibly bizarre and surreal spectacle. But for a couple of the teachers, namely Iruka Umino, seeing the blonde he viewed as a younger brother finally simmer down from his normally trouble-making self and begin devoting his time and energy towards fostering a friendship with someone, was an incredibly heart-warming sight.

XXX

(A couple months later)

With the curriculum at the school now starting to ramp up its program for the students and setting higher expectations for them as they moved forward with their growth, the kids began undergoing new lessons and learning about a whole range of new topics. A lot of these in-class sessions focused on their training as shinobi, strategy on the field, and the use of ninjutsu, all of which the students were very keen about learning.

When the new semester started, Naruto and Yakumo's conversations quickly turned to their interests in the ninja arts.

Much to their pleasant surprise, both kids were extremely passionate about the philosophies and practices of a shinobi, and that they were both very enthusiastic about becoming strong, capable shinobi in the future. While Naruto said that he wanted to become Hokage, Yakumo said she wanted to become an elite Jonin- the best in her clan's history.

This discussion eventually led to the pair sharing the knowledge and abilities that they'd already accumulated in their few years of study. Since the school had already taught the students early on about chakra control and manipulating it to perform basic, supplementary techniques, this meant that there were a few moves that the pair could show off to one another.

Naruto took to this with great enthusiasm, forming a cross-fingered hand seal and concentrating his energy with a single burst.

"_**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu,"**_ (Shadow Clone Technique) the young blond uttered through a big grin, as he and Yakumo stood across from one another in the clearing of the forest they regularly ventured into during lunch. As his friend looked on with intense fascination, both saw two big puffs of white smoke go up from the ground between them. The anomaly initially startled the brunette, but when she eventually saw the veil clear and focused her eyes to see what'd happened, she was incredibly surprised by what she saw waiting for her.

Two, tiny Naruto clones no bigger than a pair of mice- adorned in tiny orange vests, shorts, and goggles- were standing in front of the boy and grinning up at Yakumo. When they saw the girl blink down at them, the chibi doppelgangers both clenched their fists and greeted her with gusto.

"Hey there!"

"How are you doing? Dattebayo!" they both exclaimed in two, identically squeaky voices.

At first there was an awkward moment of pause, in which a dumbfounded Naruto and an incredibly surprised Yakumo stared down at the two tiny shadow clones he'd created. After several seconds of waiting, during which time nothing else really happened, the brown-haired girl snorted under her breath, before suddenly covering her face with her arm and beginning to laugh uncontrollably. The sound of her giggles caused the blond to blush and look up at her with a frown.

"W-What?" he asked, clearly embarrassed by what'd just happened.

While the boy's two insignificant creations continued to stare up at the girl in confusion, the snickering academy student quickly calmed herself down. "Oh… sorry. Sorry," Yakumo said through fits of giggles, taking a deep breath before reaching up to brush a stray tear from the corner of her eye. "It's… it's just that they're both so _adorable_." The fact that she clapped her hands at the end illustrated exactly how delightful the clones were, which caused both of them to grin happily.

Blushing at having his jutsu referred to as cute, Naruto clenched his fists and barked in a flustered manner. "I'm working on it, alright!" His exclamation earning another giggle from Yakumo, the blond boy then recoiled and lowered his head, at the same time his tiny doppelgangers quietly looked between their creator and the girl in an intrigued fashion. "It's just… I learned about the shadow clones from a book I found in the school library… as well as the steps on how to perform it. But since it's classified as a B-Rank jutsu, the technique is very, very hard to learn."

Yakumo tilted her head at the youngster curiously. "Oh. Why are you trying to learn it, exactly?" Sure, it seemed like a pretty useful technique in practice. But considering its rank and the form it took, she had to wonder why the blond would focus so much attention on trying to get the thing working. Especially since it seemed quite complex in its execution.

At this question, Naruto inhaled sharply and looked up at her attentively. "I heard that if an academy student manages to master the _Kage Bunshin_, they get an automatic pass on the _Bunshin no Jutsu_ (Clone Technique) exam. Since I completely suck at the ordinary Bunshin technique, I figured I could learn _this one_ instead." He then reached up and scratched his cheek nervously, while the two clones he'd made below started laughing and play fighting with each other. "I also found out that some kid named Itachi was automatically made a Genin when he used the technique halfway through his first year. Plus, I figured it would be really cool to know a move that others didn't."

"I see," Yakumo murmured, considering his two tiny clones for a moment. Upon which she then took a deep breath, adjusted the brown satchel she had hanging off her shoulder, and smiled up at her friend. "Well… even if you can't use it perfectly just yet, to learn such a difficult technique and to be able to get this far on your own, you should be really proud of yourself, Naruto-kun."

Being put at ease by the girl's encouraging statement and compliment towards his efforts, the child smiled back at her. "Thanks. That… really means a lot to hear that." When he looked down and saw his two, tiny shadow clones beginning to punch it out with one another- resulting in a very hilarious little boxing match- Naruto dismissed them with a quick hand seal before looking back up at the brunette. "Though I still can't create a proper clone, I'm still really good at the _Henge no Jutsu_ (Transformation Technique) and the _Kawarimi no Jutsu_ (Replacement Technique). Iruka-sensei gave me top marks for those two." He then formed a fist, lifted it, and clapped it against his chest. "I'm also the fittest and strongest in my class, since I can lift five to ten times more than anyone else, including that idiot Sasuke."

"Really?" Yakumo asked, sounding quite surprised when she heard the blond reveal this little nugget of information.

Naruto nodded his head enthusiastically. "Uh-huh. Sensei gave us all a strength test recently to see how much weight we could pick up, and I was able to lift and hold the most over my head." He then held out his hand proudly and spoke in a big voice. "Fifteen stones from a stationary position."

"Wow…" Yakumo whispered, promptly doing the math in her head and realizing that from the number Naruto quoted, he could lift an amount equivalent to the weight of a full-grown adult man… maybe even more. And he was only six years old! This information had her shake her head in amazement. "You must have a really strong body to be able to hold up that much," she remarked, appearing quite impressed at the boy's note on his physical capabilities.

"Right, dattebayo?" Naruto responded, before placing his hands on his hips confidently. "I guess lifting stuff and punching hard are two things that I'm really good at."

Cracking a smile, the brunette beamed approvingly in the boy's direction. "I wish I was as strong as you are, Naruto-kun. That way my parents won't have to worry about me getting hurt all the time... and I can move and act like how a real ninja is supposed to." She then looked away momentarily and rubbed her hand uneasily. "I'm really good with books and strategy… but I'm terrible at ninjutsu and taijutsu. Every time I try to do one round of shadow sparring or a simple jutsu, my body gets really tired or my head starts to spin. It's annoying."

Hearing this, Naruto paused for a moment before then breaking out a smile. "You might not be strong now, but I'm sure with enough training and practice you'll be able to get much, _much_ better. You just have to be patient and keep working on it, is all."

Scratching her cheek, the girl looked up bashfully at the youngster. "You think so?"

"I know so," Naruto nodded, before then puffing his chest out eagerly. "You're already super clever and super good at problem solving. Heck, you're already better than me at all the memory games we've played. Not to mention Shogi and Othello. If you can get good at those things, I'm sure that with enough hard work you'll be able to get tough enough to lift as many stones as I can." He then gave the girl a wide grin off encouragement.

Feeling incredibly moved by his words of encouragement and blushing at his cute smile, the brunette nodded to the young man happily. "Thank you… Naruto-kun. I'll… I'll try my best," she said, at the same time clenching a hand tightly.

Invigorated by their conversation thus far, Naruto stepped up to the girl with an excited glint in his eye. "Is there anything else that you can do besides awesome strategy and planning?"

"Oh?" At first appearing surprised by the sudden question, the youngster in the purple kimono quickly looked down at herself, before promptly bringing out the folder she was carrying in her satchel. "Well… I… I'm really good at painting."

"Painting?" Naruto repeated.

Yakumo nodded, "Yes." She then held up the folder she was carrying, undid the string at the end, and opened it up. When the blond came over to take a closer look at the A4 sheets she had inside the folio, he blinked in astonishment when he saw two different water coloured paintings, both of which were set in places he recognized from _Konohagakure_. "See. I do a lot of pictures and drawings in my free time and for training. I've gotten so good at them that they look like photos."

She then proceeded to flip through the pages one after the other, showing Naruto multiple locations around and outside the hidden leaf. The further they ventured, more and more of the town was exposed to the boy's eyes, until Yakumo started showing him paintings of places he'd never been to before. A beach, an ocean by the cliffs, a temple in the mountains, a tower in a city, a lighthouse, a jungle, a swamp, and all sorts of other locations that appeared both tranquil and peaceful. When the girl stopped on a couple of the abovementioned pieces, the blonde was given time to marvel at the details behind each painting- demonstrating a skill the girl had that he, for all definitions of the word, lacked.

"Well?" Yakumo's soft voice spoke up when she noticed the look of surprise drawn across the boy's face. "What do you think?"

Swallowing nervously, the whiskered youngster glanced up at the girl and grinned. "I think they're awesome!" His exclamation caused the brunette to giggle at his excitement, to which he then leaned forward and pointed at one of the paintings she'd done- one beside a river with a massive waterfall in the background. "You're super talented, Yakumo-chan. I had no idea you could draw so well."

Feeling her heart race and face heat up from the bombardment of compliments Naruto was generously giving to her, Yakumo had to give herself a moment to calm down. Once she'd taken a breath to steady herself, she then gave the young man a warm smile. "That's not the only thing I'm good at." When she saw his eyes turn to her, the child grinned. "Would you like to visit one of these places, Naruto-kun?"

"Huh?" the whiskered boy balked, hearing her question loud and clear, but not understanding what she meant. After his brain finally clicked over to form a response, Naruto finally gave an awkward nod. "Uhh… sure, I guess."

Then, without any other word or warning, the brunette brought a hand up and formed a one-handed hand sign. The instant she did, Naruto- much to his utter surprise- suddenly saw the world of the academy's tranquil forest bleed away and become replaced by the bright, glittering, serene landscape of a vast, lush mountain valley- complete with a large waterfall pouring over the side of a cliff in the distance. The sounds of the local birds and children playing in the academy's quad and playground were also replaced by the delightful crackling of leaves rustling overhead and the low, continuous pounding of water cascading into a lake in the distance.

Stumbling away from Yakumo by several feet, the child looked around in alarm- his wide eyes taking in the gorgeous, colourful scenery of the area as the warmth of the newly positioned sun shone down on him from above. His senses, cranked up to full volume, became overwhelmed by the sudden shift in tone and location, alerting him to a brand-new onslaught of sensations now starting to invade his space.

The transition had been completely sudden and unexpected.

"Whoa," Naruto exclaimed, looking doing a full turn as his eyes scanned the sky and then landed on the waterfall in the distance. "W-What did you do?"

Yakumo giggled at the look of awe and wonder on the boy's face. "This is the other thing that I'm good at making- _genjutsu_." When she saw the boy's eyes look to her, the girl beamed broadly while setting her drawing and painting book under her arm. "While you may be good at hitting hard and fighting off bullies, I'm good at creating and building whole worlds around me."

The blond nodded dumbly while looking about in disbelief. "No kidding. Wow. This is unbelievable…" he remarked, moving over to one of the vine-covered bushes and slowly reach out to the red flowers growing on it. "So, this is genjutsu? It's my first time seeing it for myself." Naruto then recoiled slightly when his fingers touched the flower and he felt the distinct sensation of soft petals and bristles of the vine brush against his skin. "It feels so real."

Was this supposed to be an illusion? By his understanding of what he'd learned about genjutsu in Iruka's classes, illusion-based techniques were designed to fool, betray, and trick the senses of shinobi, nullifying their strength and redirecting it without even laying a hand on them. Depending on the type of technique used, a person targeted by the move could have his sight deceived by an illusion cast on the surrounding environment, their sense of smell fooled by an alteration in odour, or their balance offset by a change in sound.

But this… this illusion went beyond anything he was expecting. It was almost like he'd been transported to an entirely different part of the continent. Hell, maybe even a different reality.

Yakumo, noticing the concern and confusion coming over the blonde's face, beamed warmly at him. "It only seems real because I'm making you _believe_ it's real. Though… that's what ordinary genjutsu is meant to do," the girl informed, drawing the boy's astonished gaze back to her. When she saw she had his full and undivided attention, the brunette perked up as a glow of pride appeared in her gaze. "My genjutsu is special. Because of my family's bloodline, not only are my illusions capable of tricking people's minds, but they are also strong enough to affect a person's body and organs." She then raised her finger and pressed her finger and thumb together. "On top of that, not only are my illusions able to take physical form, they can also completely erase presences, refract matter, and transport entire groups of people to separate dimensions- trapping them inside a labyrinth of colours and wonder."

It was upon hearing this that Naruto felt the urge to gulp and grin nervously at his friend. "That… actually sounds kind of scary."

The brunette giggled while stepping towards him. "It's what genjutsu is designed to do." Yakumo then stopped in front of the blond and beamed up at him. "My clan is famous for producing the greatest genjutsu specialists on the continent. And since I'm a member of the main family, I inherited all of my clan's abilities and then some." She then tilted her head at the young man in front of her. "Though I'm not even close to mastering all of my skills, I still wanted to show you what I could do- my first friend." A shrug soon followed her statement. "So? Do you like it?"

Naruto, grinning excitedly, turned to face the girl fully. "Yeah! It… It's amazing, Yakumo-chan! No. Not just amazing. It's incredible!" Throwing his hands up in the air, the young man caused the girl to giggle happily at his praise, before the blond then clenched his fists in front of him. "This is the greatest thing I've ever seen anyone in our school ever do! Not even the teachers can do anything close to this. I only wish I could use jutsu as cool as this one."

Warmed and captivated by the boy's kind words and excitement, Yakumo raised her head a little as the illusion continued to play around them. "Well… how about I teach you?" When she saw Naruto balk at her proposal, the brunette smiled. "Or better yet, how about we teach each other? I can show you how to study opponents, and create and break out of genjutsu, and you-"

"I can show you how to make your body stronger and use ninjutsu, so that you can fight and move like a proper shinobi?" Naruto finished, drawing a nod from his friend- as this was exactly what she was going to say to finish off. "Yeah! Yeah! I can totally do that! The two of us can study and train together! Build on our strengths and fix each other's weaknesses!" When he saw Yakumo's grin mirror his, the blond youngster then paused for a moment. "But… are you sure you're okay with sharing your family's techniques with me? Aren't… aren't they yours?"

Nodding her head once again, the brunette beamed. "Of course." She then placed a finger over her lips and whispered, "Don't worry. It can be our little secret." Upon seeing the blond nod in understanding, the young Yakumo then lowered her head as her smile faded a little. "I've always wanted to have someone teach me how to act and fight like a shinobi… a _real_ shinobi. But because I was born with such a frail body, my parents were too afraid to let me practice. Even the tutor they hired for me said that I should forget about becoming a kunoichi and focus on becoming something else- like a painter or a caretaker." Frowning at this, she then looked back up at Naruto and clenched her fists in front of her. "But I don't want to become anything else! I want to become a ninja! A true ninja! Someone who will be able to show the world that even someone as small and weak as me can become something truly special. _That_ is my dream."

Naruto, feeling her resolve burning furiously from every fibre of her being, smiled broadly and brought his fist up between them. "And I'll help you achieve that dream, Yakumo-chan. You and me… we'll be able to do it… _together_."

Looking down at the boy's fist and seeing it reposition itself so that the side of it was pointing towards her, Yakumo responded with a grin and- going purely by instinct- raised her arm and bumped the side of her fist against Naruto's. Their forearms resting against one another, both children shared determined smiles, before a series of excited giggles left their lips.

It was a pact that the two of them were determined to follow. However, just as they were wrapping up their little agreement, Yakumo suddenly felt a tingle on the back of her neck. The sensation causing her to freeze up momentarily, the girl spun around and looked across the stretch of landscape that was her illusion. Her wide eyes searched the space behind her, searching not only the rolling hills but the trees that lay beyond it.

Seconds of searching later however, the girl spotted nothing.

Her reaction did draw a surprised blink from Naruto, who looked in the same direction she was out of worry. "Uh… Yakumo-chan? Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah. Yeah. I'm okay, Naruto-kun. I just... thought I heard something weird," the brunette replied, quickly looking back at him and pulling her drawing book back up. When she gripped the cover, she smiled at the blond and gestured to him with it. "Come on. Let's head back."

Receiving confirmation from the whiskered youngster, the two then stood together as Yakumo closed her book. Doing so allowed her to cancel the illusion- erasing the mountain valleys and waterfall around them and returning the pair to the middle of the clearing just outside of the academy's main building. Both taking a deep breath once they returned to real world, Naruto and Yakumo- sharing one last smile together, then began making made their way back towards the school's entrance. Along the way, the energetic blond hero couldn't help but chatter excitedly with his friend over her paintings and asked whether she could create a completely different world with floating castles.

As Yakumo contemplated this idea, while at the same time expressing fondness over the idea, unbeknownst to the pair of children, an ominous gaze had fallen upon them.

Back in the clearing that they'd been standing in moments ago, between two of the oak trees on the edge of the circle, the form of a disembodied head could be seen floating amidst a thin cloud of purple mist. Appearing human at first, the blue-eyed face slowly crept out into the light, revealing itself to be an oni with two incredibly long horns jutting out of its skull, a thin jawline, and a row of razor-sharp teeth lining its mouth- accented by two extra long fangs at the front.

Watching the pair of children venture back over to the academy, the ominous demonic presence let out a low growl, before its head eventually faded into nothing and vanished. Before it completely dissipated, the creature uttered one, familiar word that seemed to echo on the wind.

"_**Yakumo…"**_

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

**Author's Note:** Three guesses as to what the oni is, for all those familiar with the series. :)


	3. Academy Arc - Inner Demons

**Author's Note:** This is going to be an establishing chapter for events to come. What I'm hoping for is one last chapter after this one before the Genin Graduation Arc. I plan on covering a lot in the next one, but this here I feel sets the chain of events to follow nicely.

* * *

**NARUTO**

_**Black Sun**_

_Inner Demons_

"_You cannot defeat darkness by running from it, nor can you conquer your inner demons by hiding them from the world. In order to defeat the darkness, you must bring it into the light."_

_-Seth Adam Smith_

* * *

(Over the next several months)

True to their word, on the very next morning following their little show-and-tell session in the woods, both Naruto and Yakumo met up in order to begin work on a training plan that the two of them were going to follow for the next year. Not even caring that they'd forced themselves to get up at the crack of dawn when the sun was barely peeking over the horizon, the pair sat down at their usual meeting spot in the playground outside the shinobi academy, and began going over the subjects, exercises, and training sessions that they would undergo in order to work towards achieving their goals.

Being the sharp, young and ambitious pair that they made, writing up a timetable for themselves and assigning each other homework in between was a simple enough and straightforward task. Having Naruto there to bounce ideas off, as well as point out any subjects she may have missed, helped Yakumo compose a schedule for them that was both balanced and fair. Though there were many things that they desperately wanted to cover in the foreseeable future, both agreed that they needed to take things slow, so that they didn't miss out on anything important.

The whole process of writing took them a little over an hour to draft and summarize. However, once Naruto and Yakumo were sure they had everything planned- including their personal exercises, study, meet-up times and locations- the pair then made a copy of their plans and headed off to class.

From there, the duo's joint regimen began.

The entire process that they'd agreed on was a holistic routine of physical and mental training sessions based on a similar schedule that Yakumo had run with her clan members and her tutor. However, unlike her personalized routine, which only focused on manipulating chakra and controlling her genjutsu, the exercises she included were intense physical exercises and study sessions with Naruto.

In order to lay the foundations for the pair's development from that point onwards, they both agreed to start off from scratch.

During the **Monday to Friday** working week, Naruto and Yakumo made the decision to wake up three hours before the start of school in order to get an **early morning** workout in. This involved the blond taking his friend out into the woods on the far side of the mountain where the _Hokage Monument_ was carved- a place he'd often frequented- so that she could run some forest obstacle courses, haul rocks, and throw shuriken at static or moving targets that he'd set up there. This training would not only help build their reaction skills and overall coordination, but also enhance their fitness and base physical strengths.

As was to be expected, this training was hard going for Yakumo. No. Not just hard. It was downright torturous. Given her background of low stamina and poor physical strength stemming from a weak body, having to follow the same ten-mile route and perform the same exercise types as her blond friend, was nearly equivalent to a hundred mile hike up a mountain for a normal person- followed by a session of hefting boulders. The first several times Naruto and Yakumo ran the course and did the workouts together, the girl literally collapsed from exhaustion a fraction of the way through.

On many occasions she fell over and was unable to move for the rest of the morning. This resulted in her having to drag herself to one of the rest stops on their trek or ask Naruto to carry her. Hell, even afterwards, the fatigue she felt from the morning training was so great she either missed out on a day of school or wound up falling asleep in class- which Suzume-sensei clearly wasn't impressed with.

During one return walk to the village after an early finish to their morning segment, as Naruto carried an exhausted and sweaty Yakumo on his back, he made a joke at his expense. He said, "I remember collapsing a few times during that run. Once, I was so frustrated at not being able to beat Kiba's time on the course I worked myself so hard that I passed out. I ended up sleeping out in the woods the entire day and missed out on school." He snickered at the end. "Boy, Iruka-sensei was pissed the next morning."

When he told the story to Yakumo as she hung off his shoulder, the girl laughed. Listening to Naruto explain to her all the details of the various mishaps that took place during that training helped her to get over the disappointment that she felt at not being able to finish the run for the twentieth day in a row. The fact that he was able to share the pains and failures of his past so openly, showed that he knew what she was going through with trying to overcome the hurdle of her body's limitations, and that they were both in the same boat.

For weeks they kept to the run, repeating it as many times as needed so that Yakumo could adapt to the routine. A few times she succeeded and several times she failed- yet all times ended in the girl gasping her lungs out and sweating up a storm at the end of every leg. At first, she thought her pain would never end and that she would be stuck in the same, retched circle of running and collapsing for the rest of the year.

But after two months of hell came and went, and with help from Naruto's continuous encouragement and support, Yakumo slowly- but surely- started to come into her own. Eventually, after a few months of hard training and care, she managed to get through the ten-mile run consistently without falling over, and the exhaustion she felt at the end of the round and the weightlifting was greatly lessened.

The obstacle course and rock lifting in the mornings were accompanied by multiple rounds of taijutsu, in which Naruto and Yakumo would walk through the basic forms together. Initially the blond had to do them on his own and Yakumo- being too exhausted from the first two blocks of exercises- would observe him. During that time, she would correct the whiskered child's technique and point out any mistakes or gaps in his skillset. Considering her knowledge of all the forms of taijutsu from her studying of the academy's texts and observation of lessons, she knew exactly where Naruto needed to correct his martial arts. This meant Naruto's first month of taijutsu training was basically a restructuring and remodelling of his close-combat skills, where he would practice out in the open with shadow sparring to hone his technique and hit a tree bare-fisted for striking.

He made sure to work himself to the bone during this portion of their timetable- not just for himself, but also to show Yakumo that he was indeed serious about improving and making good use of their time together. In addition to the usual practices, Naruto later started doing the sessions with sets of wrist and ankle weights he managed to… "find" in the academy's dojo storage area, all of which weighed some several dozen kilograms each. This resulted in a lot of skin chafing, bloody knuckles, and sweat from the energetic blond, as well as many bruises and torn muscles. Heck, on one particular day, Naruto ended up limping to school due to tearing the fibres in his calf from pivoting too much during a training session.

But once he'd managed to iron out his form, towards the end of the first two months, the blond ended up fighting with much more control and finesse than before- but he had a long way to go still before he was close to complete. When Yakumo eventually managed to join in, the training became much more eventful, in which the two started working together to build their skills as a unit.

The three sets of exercises- consisting of the obstacle course, weightlifting, and taijutsu- made up the morning sessions for their working week.

At **recess and lunch**, during the mandatory break periods they were given after classes, Naruto and Yakumo would get together and study one on one. This part of the day consisted of the girl helping the blond with the material from the academy that he didn't understand- including those given directly by Iruka for assignments and homework. Everything pertaining to strategy, mathematics and literacy were covered during this part of the day, as well as all the other fundamental knowledge shinobi needed to have.

Obviously, Naruto struggled with this area a lot. Much like how Yakumo's weakness was in her physical capabilities and dexterity, the whiskered youngster's Achilles heel was his problem solving and strategy skills. His friend had to break things down into simple terms and build them up for him, and when she ended up explaining things to him in ways that he could relate, Naruto was able to understand the problems right away.

In fact, after the first two months came and went, Naruto quickly demonstrated a brand of thinking and strategizing that Yakumo didn't even know he had. It was quite possible that nobody else knew either. The boy was highly kinaesthetic with his learning and made connections with material that many would find unusual and unorthodox, such as the stuff he dealt with in day-to-day life- including allowances, food, mental maps, and material that would be considered popular culture for the current generation of the village. A lot of his knowledge came from instinct and Yakumo was able to exploit his intellect in order to fill in all the gaps in Naruto's brain to make learning and thinking in class a lot more fun and easier for him.

At first, she started doing the routines with him out in the woods to help lay the foundations for him- using their training as shinobi to better explain angles, trajectories, probability, and how to add or subtract numbers in order to solve the unknown values. Shinobi were expected to be able to do complex mathematics in their head in order to function as commanders and leaders on the field, so Yakumo made sure Naruto had an idea of how this was done through action before having him translate it onto paper. This made his learning later onwards much easier, as his friend was able to give him a visual interpretation of how to solve most of the formulas through practical means.

Though it was still a hard slog for him, Naruto- the young man of pure spirit and action- was slowly getting a handle on it.

Then came the **afternoon** sessions. While on Fridays the pair reserved that day for some much-needed fun and play after school, the two used the other days of the week to practice ninjutsu and genjutsu together. This was where a lot of chakra manipulation practice and hand seal work came into action, in which both the boy and the girl took turns in demonstrating to the other how the techniques they didn't specialize in were executed. While Yakumo showed Naruto how to weave signs to produce his own genjutsu without the need for elaborate paintings, the boy taught Yakumo how to perform the standard supplementary ninjutsu, which would set the stage for her hopefully learning many others to follow.

* * *

(On the fourteenth day of training)

(Monday)

A white puff of smoke surrounded Naruto after the boy finished weaving hand seals. When the veil cleared and an observing Yakumo saw the boy emerge from the mist, she was surprised to see the Third Hokage standing in front of her; adorned in his signature white robes, his hands behind his back and his red and white wide-hat covering his head. The moment the girl saw the form of the short, frail-looking leader of the village smiling back at her from under the shadow of his headwear, she was immediately blown away by the sight.

"It's flawless," she commented, having seen hundreds of pictures of Hiruzen in photographs and in books to know his face off by hard. The figure that was standing before her was a spitting image of the famed _God of Shinobi_. "You look exactly like him, Naruto-kun!"

Initially keeping a straight, composed look on his face- as characteristic of the Third Hokage- a few moments later a very cheerful, Naruto-grin then crossed the old man's lips. After reaching up and tipping his wide hat to the lady, the Hokage then went up in a second puff of smoke, which quickly lifted away to reveal the whiskered child standing before Yakumo with his fingers gripping his goggles. Since the transformation translated to whatever he was wearing in his real form, the transition between the two was uncanny.

"That's how it's done," the boy said, lowering his hand and beaming at the girl. "Normally I would give the transformation a funny nose or big lips or something to try and make people laugh, but I wanted to do a proper transformation this time. Do you think you'll be able to do it?"

Swallowing nervously, the brunette in the purple kimono dress clenched her fists and raised them bravely. "I… I don't know. But I'll try!"

Following her declaration, Naruto stood there with his hands on his hips and watched the girl form a hand seal in front of her. Closing her eyes and concentrating, she then began churning the chakra inside her body to begin the process of the _Henge no Jutsu_.

"Remember. Relax. Focus on the image inside your head. Let your chakra flow naturally," Naruto instructed.

Nodding in understanding, Yakumo then flipped through the signs necessary for her to perform the technique: dog, boar and ram. Once she finished the technique, she then grunted and allowed her gathered chakra to burst outwards. A white puff of smoke then filled the air as the technique took effect, with Naruto watching as the fog cleared to see the results of the girl's transformation. When she re-emerged, she had managed to adequately take the Third Hokage's form- complete with hat, robe and wrinkles, just as the blond had done before.

Upon seeing the Hokage open his eyes and glance up at him, Naruto grinned at his friend and pumped his fists triumphantly. "Awesome! You did it, Ya-chan!" However, about a few seconds after seeing the transformed Yakumo grin at him, her eyes suddenly rolled upwards before the Hokage duplicate swayed sharply on the spot. Moments later, another puff of smoke occurred as the Third keeled over, with Yakumo's form remerging from the smoke as she dropped to the ground.

Seeing his friend hit the lawn they were practicing on had Naruto freak out and rush forward, waving his hands frantically when he saw the swirly-eyed girl lying flat on her back. "Yakumo-chan! Hey! YAKUMO-CHAN?! Are you alright?! YA-CHAN?!"

"Oooh… the world… won't stop spinning…" Yakumo groaned, clearly bowled over for her very first attempt at a jutsu outside of her comfort zone. Hell, she couldn't even hear Naruto shouted over her and asking if she was alright.

* * *

The earliest round of sessions for the two ambitious children were quite tricky and didn't really amount to anything in terms of actual progress. When Yakumo attempted to do a standard transformation technique, she transformed, smiled, and then passed out due to the sudden spike in chakra- as well as from the fact that she was still incredibly exhausted from that morning's stamina training in the woods. While Naruto panicked from seeing his friend collapse after doing such a trivial deed, when she regained consciousness seconds later the boy quickly calmed down, which then led to him saying that she should hold off on practicing too many ninjutsu until she got her physical strength and stamina up.

Yakumo agreed, and from there the two continued working on getting their chakra levels as high and refined as possible- with the kunoichi-in-training teaching Naruto how to produce and break a standard genjutsu technique on the side.

While producing an illusion was something the blond had never done before due to its high level of difficulty and control, he found it a lot easier than he initially expected after his brunette friend explained to him how it was done through basic terminology. In a way, mastering a generic genjutsu was very similar to the transformation technique, only you _projected_ your chakra over a wider area as opposed to just around your body, while also tapping into your opponent's senses to trick them with something that just wasn't there. It required a lot of imagination and a lot of ingenuity, and that was something Naruto was in no short supply of. As long as the user had an idea of what the illusion would look, smell, taste, sound, and feel like, then they would be able to use it to effectively rope someone into what was essentially a false scenario.

After Yakumo explained the basics of genjutsu to Naruto, she then had him cast a simple illusion to create a sign in the middle of an area where there wasn't one. Understandably Naruto struggled with this at the beginning, even with his friend's explanations and guidance. But after she walked it through him after a period of a few weeks of trial and error, his capabilities in the area slowly started to take hold.

Soon he was able to cast and produce small scale genjutsu, which took the form of extra objects in places where there weren't any and illusions that changed the text of signs. The last one proved to be a great deal of fun to practice, as one Friday afternoon at the end of a long week of training, the blond fire starter used it to fool a few shop owners and customers by altering the names at the front of their businesses- swapping signs, scrambling the kanji, and often changing the names of locations to words that weren't what you would call appropriate.

Naruto and Yakumo had a good time pulling these subtle pranks as part of their exercises, which soon became a regular thing for them in the weeks to follow- especially after the blond managed to gain some level of experience and competence casting illusions.

His success in this field even gave Naruto further ideas to experiment with in the future, where instead of casting genjutsu with chakra, he would try pulling off optical illusions with his body. It was something he kept in mind as the pair's training progressed into its next stages and the two of them slowly started getting better and better at utilizing the skills in their arsenal.

Despite the speedy progress the odd duo made over the first few weeks, Naruto still felt that he was lacking something significant in the combat department- something that would help him to use the power that he had in his body to better effect. Sure, it was one thing to hit hard and run fast, but all his physical capabilities and feats amounted to nothing if he couldn't hit someone properly or trade blows with them without getting beaten up himself.

After one taijutsu session in class, where he was able to watch Sasuke and Kiba mop the floor with their partners, the boy realized that what he was missing was a proper, distinctive _style_\- a form that could iron out his taijutsu, take advantage of his raw strength, and grant him a greater edge in a close combat situation.

It was something he was given time to ponder over one Sunday morning, where after a long, hard week of studying and training with Yakumo, the whiskered child found himself wandering alone through the village streets, trying to find some way to occupy himself…

* * *

(After the first month and a half of training)

(Early Sunday morning)

In the weeks to follow since the start of his heavily involved training program with his newfound companion, Naruto had also taken on board _shurikenjutsu_ and implemented some practice time for it into his timetable- hopefully to improve himself in time so that he could do some training with Yakumo. For the children coming from big wig clans and families within the village, acquiring the tools to conduct this branch of shinobi training was easy and didn't result in any issues for them.

Naruto however, being an orphan of only six or so with no family or clan of his own, struggled to get his hands on any weapons he needed to practice with. Not only were the teachers reluctant to lend a bunch of dangerous ninja tools to him, they were also hesitant about loaning them out to someone of his… _background_. This was something that really annoyed the blond, but also encouraged him to think outside the box and discover different ways and means to train in _shurikenjutsu_.

As it turns out, the driven and sharp-minded youngster was able to come up with an appropriate resource in the form of rocks and pebbles. Able to function as incredibly versatile projectiles, as well as giving him a variety of odd and complex shapes to work with, Naruto was able to use the very environment itself to load himself up on tools from which he was able to train with.

Every time he wanted to practice his throwing between his sessions with Yakumo, Naruto would find himself a quiet alleyway or a spot out in the park away from the village and do some target practice by hocking rocks at various angles towards a number of strategically placed targets. These took the form of cans, discarded boxes with painted circles on them, pieces of tinfoil, and strings.

Whenever he wasn't doing strength exercises or taijutsu lessons, the determined blond would work on his throwing arm. At first his technique started out stiff, clumsy, and his aim was all over the place- as he demonstrated several times during class practice. But in studying some of the books he was able to come across at the academy's resource centre and asking Yakumo for some tips, he was able to modify and correct the aim, distance, and trajectory of his throws.

Soon he was knocking over cans from an average distance of eighty to a hundred yards- a feat which was quite impressive for an academy student with a handful of pebbles.

However, it wasn't just distance and accuracy along a straight-line Naruto was working on either.

On this day, the child had opted for a different kind of practice. Standing in the middle of a dingy alleyway surrounded by trash cans with random targets set up around him, the orphan was not only working on trying to throw multiple rocks at the same time, but was also attempting to alter their trajectories by ricocheting them and bouncing off of stationary targets to hit another. This would then hopefully lead to him being able to bounce rocks off other airborne rocks.

Sure, it sounded simple in theory, but it was ludicrously difficult.

Panting heavily as he stood in the middle of the walkway, covered in dirt and bruises, with a cut over his temple, Naruto then crossed his arm over and chucked the handful of pebbles he had in his hand outwards. The three rocks flew out, spinning on their respective axis to pelt three different targets down the alley. The instant he heard the individual clangs, the blond spun around, grunted and chucked another pebble upwards, bouncing it off a trash can lid and up towards a can, which he managed to knock over with a loud clatter.

Gritting his teeth, the child then reached into his shorts pocket and drew another two rocks, which he clenched tightly between his fingers.

"Not enough," the boy breathed out, glancing over his shoulder towards another two targets spaced out in the narrow corridor. "Not good enough." With a yell, he turned and threw the rocks, watching them separate and strike their targets with two loud 'clap' sounds echoing down the walkway.

And so, he kept on going, stopping every so often to reload.

OOO

(Sometime later)

After spending the better part of dawn giving himself blisters on his fingers and palms with his makeshift _shurikenjutsu_ training, Naruto- wiping himself down with a rag he'd left in one of the building panels- then went on an aimless march around the village's multiple clan compounds and suburbs.

The cheerful six-year-old, his hands resting comfortably in the pockets of his orange vest and sandals scraping against the floor of the road, quietly explored the local neighbourhood he'd unexpectedly wandered into. So far, his adventure through what he assumed was the upper-class part of Konoha had been relatively uneventful, with most of the villagers he'd passed so far steering clear of him (as usual) while he ambled down the road.

Chin held high and eyes wide with curiosity, the child allowed his mind to mosey- his thoughts being dominated by ideas and images of his most recent training runs. As fun and eventful his sessions with Yakumo had been so far, the young man was still quite troubled by the topic regarding his fighting style. As much as he tried to suppress the issues by occupying himself with other activities- such as the one from this morning- it was still a problem that kept on popping up in his head and giving him grief.

"_Hmm…"_ he thought to himself while looking down at his hand and clenching it. _"I've gotten much better at taijutsu… but my form is too straight forward and easy to read. I need something with a little more __**bang**__ to it. Something sharper."_ He then peered upwards and focused his attention on the sky. _"I could ask Ya-chan… though I don't think her clan uses any good taijutsu…"_

She said her family were genjutsu specialists- which didn't quite translate as taijutsu specialists. So, if they didn't have any good hand-to-hand styles, then who did?

While Naruto was strolling down a road behind some private estates, in a district he wasn't too familiar with, completely lost in his thoughts, the blonde's head suddenly perked up when his ears picked up the distinct sounds of shouting and foot stomping. Tracing the noises towards one of the properties a little further down the dirt path, the aspiring shinobi-in-training jogged on over to check it out. Vaulting up onto the ceramic roof of the wall surrounding the enormous home, Naruto then crouched down on the platform and took a quick peak at the garden.

Much to his surprise, the whiskered academy student found himself staring down at an enormous dirt courtyard with over two dozen children standing in the centre of it- boys and girls around his age, capped with brown and dark blue hair respectively, and all dressed in matching grey training gis. What's more, all the kids were arranged into rows, dropped into horse-riding stances and were currently practicing palm thrusts under the supervision of their trainer.

Every time they threw an attack, all the children shouted at the top of their lungs in perfect unison. There was a brief pause between each strike and, during each stop, the teacher walking between their rows would come up behind one of the children and correct their stances or position, just to make sure they were doing the exercises properly. This meticulous and repetitive form of practice was something that would normally be found in a typical dojo or a self-defence class, where youngsters were trained for competition purposes or otherwise. But as Naruto observed from his spot, on top of the perimeter wall, this wasn't just some ordinary martial arts class.

On closer inspection, Naruto quickly realized that he'd actually wandered into the _**Hyuuga Clan**_ district and had just happened to come across one of their private compounds, where members of the powerful family were currently practicing the basic techniques associated with their world famous taijutsu style, _Juken_ (Gentle Fist).

This was something that Naruto wasn't expecting to stumble across while on his little village walk- despite living in a Konoha dominated by shinobi clans who practiced their arts openly, but it certainly wasn't unwelcome. In fact, the blond cracked a genuine smile as he made himself comfortable and proceeded to watch the class with interest.

As the children continued going through their palm exercises, their instructor, a tall Hyuuga kunoichi with Bob-style brown hair, pale skin, crystal blue eyes, a scar across her right cheek, and wearing a purple qi pao kimono, walked between them with a stern expression in play. During which time she began to speak. "Remember… every movement you make must be accompanied by a breath… and every step a pause. You must be fluid with each of your strikes, but also decisive… inhaling and exhaling throughout. Any attempts to hold yourself back or restrict your movements will result in rigid attacks and a fragile defence." She then stepped over to a young girl and pushed her arm up when she noticed she was hitting too low. "Feel the ground and your surroundings. Breathe and maintain your focus. And never let your guard down. Understand?!"

"_**Hai, sensei!"**_

The collective response of the students echoed across the area, informing the kunoichi that all her students understood. With a nod, she then turned around and headed back out of the formation to begin moving around the outside. "Change it up. Crescent repulse and double palm strikes. On my count!" She then heard a loud stomp as every single child stepped forward with their left foot and assumed attack stances. "Ready. One! Two! Three!" The woman counted on and watched as all her students began executing two simultaneous techniques one after the other with both arms.

Naruto quickly became fascinated and enamoured in the training session taking place in front of him and continued to watch silently for the next few minutes. Upon seeing the kunoichi woman sternly correct four of her students by having the others stop and getting the offenders to perform the techniques individually, the blond then decided to 'join in' on the fun. He did so by standing up on the roof, assuming the _Gentle Fist_ stance that the children were using and copying their movements at the kunoichi's count.

His arms moved in semi-circles around his body as he performed a stepping flourish, followed by a return of both palms to the front before pushing out with them. He then repeated the motion over and over, making sure to stick to the pattern and maintain his footing on the tiled roof. When he felt his body was too rigid, he matched his breathing techniques with his body movements and, sure enough, he started to execute his technique with grace and precision.

"_This taijutsu is __**really**__ cool,"_ Naruto thought, his heart racing with excitement as he continued to move in a way that was completely subversive to his usual style. _"Man. What else can they do?"_

For the next half an hour or so Naruto remained on that wall, copying and mimicking the techniques being practiced down below. When the children moved into practicing simultaneous deflection and counter attacks with a partner, Naruto did the same, practicing being both the attacker and the defender with his own shadow.

During this period, the kunoichi instructor below suddenly took notice of the blond boy up on the top of the wall. As her students continued with their session, she watched the whisker-marked child in the hoody for several moments, raising an eyebrow as she took notice of how he was executing each technique with confidence and poise.

"_Hm… he's got a really strong base stance," _the woman observed, tilting her head as she watched the boy continue to parry and counter on command. From what she could tell, he was doing surprisingly well.

Unfortunately, just as Naruto was starting to get into the practice, he suddenly heard a voice yell out to him. "Hey! You!" Looking down at the street, the orphan suddenly spotted a Hyuuga male with a ponytail and wearing a shinobi uniform glaring up at him. A rather irritated expression was currently slapped across his face. "What do you think you're doing up there?! Get down! Now!"

"Uh oh." Quickly disengaging from his stance, a surprised Naruto turned tail and ran, jumping down from the wall and sprinting away as fast as he could. The Hyuuga Chunin gave chase, but then gave up halfway down the road when the child managed to disappear around the corner seconds later. Figuring it wasn't worth going after him, Hoheto Hyuuga gave a low sigh and turned to head back inside.

The kunoichi instructor meanwhile, after seeing the blond take flight, cracked a small smile before returning to coach her students, all of whom had been too busy to notice the commotion going on nearby.

As for Naruto, as he sprinted down the road in his effort to not get caught, grinned broadly as he was then hit by a wicked idea. _"I should bring Yakumo next time. She definitely has to check this out!"_

* * *

That first visit to the Hyuuga Clan compound wouldn't be Naruto's last. In fact, after his little peeping session, the orphan began visiting the estate every morning at the exact same time, so that he could watch and observe the taijutsu classes being held in that central courtyard. And true to his word, he even brought Yakumo along following their early morning training in the woods so that the two academy students could observe what was going on.

After the first two weeks, the orphan and the heiress were able to get a solid grasp of all the days and times each of the classes were held.

There were two classes held on every day of the week in the mornings and afternoons, and one held on the mornings of both Saturday and Sunday. During these brisk two-hour periods, the youngest members of the Hyuuga clan's main and branch family members would gather and form into rows, which were divided by age and experience. From there, under the keen eye of their Jonin instructor, the children would then practice their basic techniques- including stances, footwork, and handwork- before being paired up to practice through sparring. Thanks to their frequent attendance to these proceedings, Naruto and Yakumo were given plenty of opportunities to observe and record how all of them practiced.

The pair's part wasn't just limited to spectators either. Over the course of the next several months, Naruto and Yakumo were able to "join in" on the classes and copy the routines from a distance, allowing the two of them to work on their techniques and skills being taught at the same time as the children. They were also able to correct themselves by also copying the movements of the kids and making all the corrections the teacher pointed out to her group.

Barring any interruptions with any Hyuuga Clan guards that happened to be on duty, Naruto and his best friend were able to get a full and decent morning of taijutsu into their routine.

And with that, another, final addition was added to the pair's schedule. After making a few adjustments, both Naruto and Yakumo had their morning of taijutsu training in the Hyuuga Clan district- where they would mirror and gleam ideas off the group's morning classes and add it to their own.

From there, their Monday to Friday schedule followed a very straight forward and concrete timetable:

Early Morning session– Obstacle/Forest run, weightlifting, taijutsu (Hyuuga Clan compound) for three hours

School – First Period + Second Period

Recess – Studying for fifteen minutes

School – Third + Fourth Period

Lunch – Studying for half an hour

School – Fifth Period

Afternoon session – Ninjutsu and Genjutsu training for two hours

As for their **weekends**, Naruto and Yakumo agreed to try and meet up on the Saturday so that they could iron out more of their taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, and bookwork- depending on their progress. Seeing as how the two of them needed to commit a lot of time to increasing their stamina and refining their strength respectively, most of the next few months were solely devoted to polishing up their physical capabilities and endurance. Naruto of course went with his own workout for this, but at the same time helped Yakumo out a great deal- making sure she didn't overdo it and pass out every time.

By setting an entire day aside and using it for this routine, they were able to cover a lot in a very short amount of time. Depending on how long they spent their Saturday together, they pretty much saw one another every day of the week.

As for their **Sunday**, this was their rest day- a day where they would be able to collect their thoughts and spend some time away from one another for a breather. That was of course if they didn't sneak out to meet up at the park to just have a day of play or go for some noodles down at _Ichiraku's Ramen Stand_.

The first time Naruto took Yakumo down to the father and daughter's famed restaurant turned out to be one of the more memorable and heart-warming moments the pair shared thus far.

* * *

(After the second month of training)

"…and you say that this place has the best noodles sold anywhere in the village?" Yakumo- wearing a fitting light brown kimono and red obi asked as she walked with Naruto up to the front of the small stand resting close to the village's centre. When she looked over the front of the local store, a look of immediate curiosity quickly came over her. "Hm. Strange. My parents never told me about this place. In fact, they always told me that the bar across the street sold the best noodles."

"Trust me, Ya-chan," Naruto replied with a big, cheesy grin on his face as he pushed back the curtain in front of him and held a hand to his female friend. "The ramen that oji-san makes at his shop is really, _really_ awesome. I don't want to hype his stuff up too much before you try it… but I honestly just can't help myself. His regular miso ramen and pork combo will floor you on your first bite." He then gave a shrug at the end. "At least that's what I think."

Yakumo, seeing the excitement gleaming in the boy's eyes as he looked back at her, giggled a little while cocking an eyebrow. "You really want me to like these noodles, don't you?"

The blond answered by inhaling deeply, "Yes. I _definitely_ do." While his simple response had the girl laugh even more into her hand, the whiskered hero then beckoned her in. "Look, I don't want to try and convince you with words. Just try it out and see for yourself what I mean." He then pushed the curtain back for the brunette, allowing a pleased Yakumo to pass under it and approach the stools that waited them on the other side.

Finding a seat towards the left on the main counter, the pair sat side-by-side and made themselves comfortable. As soon as they did, they were greeted by the very pleasant yet surprised face of the chef's teenage daughter Ayame, who blinked when she saw her store's favourite customer smiling back at them- along with a girl she'd never met before.

"Oh. Hello there, Naruto-kun," the older girl behind the bar greeted in her usual, upbeat tone.

"Hey, oneechan!" the whiskered child replied with a wave, at the same time hopping a little on his stool. "What's up? Having a good day?"

"Yes. It's been a really great day so far. Not many customers, but the peace and quiet has allowed me to do a lot of cleaning up around the place," Ayame answered.

"That's good. And where's jiji?"

"He's in the back checking out the stocks," Ayame answered. She then directed her attention to the properly dressed girl sitting beside the vest-wearing child. Taking note of her well-kept hair, neatly pressed kimono, and smooth skin, the chef's daughter initially thought she was looking at someone who was either rich or royalty. "Who's the girl, Naruto-kun?"

"Ah! Of course. Where are my manners?" The blond then beamed across at Yakumo and gestured to her happily, "Ayame-neechan, this is my best friend Yakumo-chan from the _Kurama Clan_." When the girl raised a hand to wave tentatively, Naruto then gestured back to the older girl. "She hasn't eaten at this place before, so I brought her in to try out some of your dad's awesome ramen."

There was a moment of stunned pause in which Ayame momentarily felt her jaw drop at the sight of Naruto's companion smiling bashfully in her direction. Managing to stifle a gasp when her mind finally processed the information given to her, the young adult cook held a hand up to her lips as a smile reappeared. "Sh-She's your friend, Naruto-kun?" When she saw the whiskered child nod enthusiastically, the teen responded by leaning forward excitedly. "Oh my gosh. That's amazing! You managed to bring a friend to the restaurant? Dad! DAD!" she suddenly called into the back.

A few seconds after her shout, which momentarily confused both Naruto and Yakumo, the distinct voice of the owner of the store answered back. "What is it, Ayame?"

"It's Naruto-kun! Come take a look!"

While the two children appeared completely confused by the commotion, they were soon joined by the old owner of the restaurant. His portly, grey-haired form ducking into view from the back of the store, the master noodle chef Teuchi found himself under the gazes of not only his daughter, but the pair of young customers who were waiting at the counter.

"What's going on? Is there something wrong?" the adult asked as he approached the bench.

Beaming brilliantly, the brunette then gestured over the counter towards the kids. "Look dad. Naruto-kun brought a friend to try out your noodles."

A surprised Teuchi then peered over. "He did?" he asked in a surprised tone, quickly spotting the very distinctive face of Naruto and then the girl sitting alongside him. Upon looking the wide-eyed children over and seeing that they were indeed together, the old man then grinned broadly before giving out a booming laugh of joy. "Haha! Well, isn't that great? Little Naruto managed to make a girlfriend! How about that?!"

When the two children blushed at his statement and smiled down at the desk in front of them in embarrassment, Ayame quickly noticed their reactions and waved her hands at her old man. "No, no, dad. Not _girlfriend_. A _friend_-friend," she corrected, causing her father to balk. "Someone he plays with."

"Oh? Really?" When he saw his daughter nod, he then looked back at the red-faced Naruto and Yakumo and smiled apologetically at them. "Oops. I'm so sorry you two. I just… I think I may have jumped the gun a little bit."

"Th-That's okay, sir," Naruto said, in a rather uncharacteristically quiet voice as he shuffled a bit in his seat. "Everyone makes mistakes."

"Y-Yeah. It's fine," Yakumo also whispered, throwing a few glances across at her blond friend and receiving several back in return. When the pair's eyes met, they felt their faces heat up even more, which prompted them to look away while smiling happily.

Though observing the pair drew a giggle from Ayame, a grinning Teuchi puffed his chest out and wisely decided to break the air of awkwardness he'd inadvertently created. "Well, in any case, I'm so glad to see you're starting to hang out with others your own age, kid. Looks like your persistence is finally starting to pay off." He then raised his right hand and flashed the children a thumbs-up. "Nice going."

Naruto, feeling himself perk back up, grinned at one of the only adult males in his life he considered a role model and inspirational figure. "Thank you, jiji." Next to Iruka and Hiruzen, Teuchi and his daughter were like family to him- so it really meant a lot to hear this kind of encouragement coming from him.

A chortle of pride left the chef's lips as he set his hand back down. "Like I always say, it's always best to enjoy life with others rather than by yourself. Though it may take a while for you to find someone you want to spend the best years of your youth with, you'll eventually get there if you keep on trying." Upon imparting these words of wisdom to his two customers, he then moved on to business as usual. "So, what can I get you two troublemakers today?"

Finally managing to recover as well, Yakumo's head also went up when she saw the old man look in her direction. "Naruto-kun said you guys make the best ramen in the village. Because we haven't had any lunch yet, I would very much like to try some," the girl said, shooting a grin across at the boy next to her, who she saw respond in kind.

"Oh-ho! Is that so?" Teuchi chuckled, before then glancing over at Naruto enthusiastically. "My, my… that truly is a shining review, if I ever heard one. Now I'm wondering whether Naruto is telling the truth… or he's just making you say that so that he can get a free bowl of ramen today." When he saw the blond snicker and rub the back of his head bashfully from the smiles he received from the father and daughter, the head chef then nodded. "Very well then. Ayame."

"Yes, papa?"

"Let's give these two hungry kids something to eat," the man said with a grin. "Looking at them, I'd say they're going to need all the energy they can get for whatever ball games they have planned later in the park."

In response, the brunette smiled and nodded her head briskly. "Alright. Two regular miso noodles coming right up." She then promptly headed back to get the stoves fired up.

From there, both Naruto and Yakumo spent the next few minutes at the counter, waiting patiently side by side as the sounds of kitchen utensils echoed into their midst. All the while the owner of the store kept them company, asking his favourite customer where he'd met the girl and where she came from. Understandably, the blond talked about his brunette friend in detail, with Ayame also listening in so that she didn't miss out on any second of the story. By the time their orders finally came out, two more customers had arrived at the store, both of whom were promptly tended to by the daughter.

The moment the two, steaming bowls of deliciously smelling broth and noodles were set down before them, both Naruto and Yakumo clapped their hands together, gave a simultaneous 'Itadakimasu', and quickly picked up a set of chopsticks and a spoon each. Upon taking the spoons into their dominant hands first, the pair then dipped them into their respective bowls, during which time Naruto sat back and watched Yakumo take her first tentative serving.

After blowing on her spoon to cool it, she then took a sip. The moment she did, her eyes flicked open and a light quickly shone from her pupils. "It's good," she whispered in surprise, smile forming as she dipped her spoon in once again. "It's _very_ good."

While an observing Teuchi grinned victoriously and crossed his arms, an observing Naruto also smiled broadly across at the young painter. "See. I told you you'd like it." When the girl gave him a bright smile, the pair then looked away from each other and went straight back into their meals, with Naruto taking up a length of noodles with his chopsticks and joyfully inhaling them.

* * *

And so that's pretty much how the next several months came and went- both Naruto and Yakumo working together to improve their stamina, their shinobi skills, and their jutsu respectively. While the pair obviously struggled at the beginning when they were just starting out on their road to ninja hood, as time went on and the two of them began focusing more intensely on the tasks that they'd laid out for themselves, the training gradually started to get easier and easier.

With the knowledge that they were getting stronger with each passing day being ever-present in their minds and bodies, the pair started adding more and more to their workouts to keep the development going at a steady pace. They increased their weights, extended their runs, began manipulating chakra on a more regular basis, studied harder material, and began practicing jutsu more frequently. As a result, their stamina grew and so did their efficiency and success at using jutsu.

Yakumo, having finally reached a reasonable level of fitness after six months of hard work and action, started to be able to use the basic supplementary techniques taught to her by Naruto more regularly- a success that she was able to demonstrate in class during one of Suzume-sensei's outdoor lessons. Whereas before she would've failed at producing even a single transformation miserably, the girl was overjoyed when she managed to use the transformation without passing out and was applauded for her accomplishment. As for the obstacle run, she was also able to complete it along with the rest of her peers and set a good time for it, a feat that her parents found out about and congratulated her for it.

As for Naruto, his own grades and status as dead-last in the class also began to change. Thanks to Yakumo's counsel and encouragement, the boy began committing himself to his lessons like any good student would- transforming from a boy who would interrupt lessons with pranks or calling out, to one who would concentrate on his studies and raise his hand to answer questions. It was this noticeable change in behaviour and attitude that Iruka observed straight away and praised his normally troublesome student for his increase in focus and improvement during their quizzes and tests. And then, when it came to the boy being tested on his ninjutsu and taijutsu skills, Naruto was finally able to break his string of losses with monumental impact.

* * *

(After the seventh month of training)

The taijutsu classes held in the courtyard outside of the academy by Iruka-sensei was noted by his students to be one of the more popular lessons held by the teacher. Not only did the session allow for the children to get out, stretch their legs, and breathe air that wasn't the stuffy, sweaty, paper tinted confines of their homeroom, but also gave them the opportunity to practice the most exciting art of shinobi philosophy- _combat_.

Everyone wanted to have a piece of the action. Whether they were lazy sloths from the Nara Clan or gung-ho fighters from the Inuzuka Clan, every child in the Chunin's youngest ranks were eager to get involved. While most were keen to participate whenever the instructor called for volunteers, some of the less motivated ones were just happy to stand back and observe. Chief among which were Shikamaru and Choji, both of whom could often be seen standing on the very edge of the class and watching their peers smack each other around over a shared bag of chips.

Like every other taijutsu class held by Iruka, the entire session had started off great. The teacher called students forward one pair at a time to perform the _Sign of Confrontation_ and show their stuff, with each group giving a solid performance all throughout. Once each round was finished, both opponents were expected to finish up with the _Sign of Reconciliation_\- to show that the children still held respect and friendship towards one another as students in the same school. Understandably when Sasuke Uchiha's name was called, all the girls who were standing on the sidelines gave him a big cheer of support and adulation- with Ino and Sakura in particular being his most vocal of supporters.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for Naruto when he came up. Even though the boy came onto the field with a far more dignified air and approach than he had in lessons before, his appearance didn't even raise any kind of positive response. In fact, after having not seen the child perform for quite a while after his rather embarrassing knock down by Sasuke on their very first lesson with Iruka last year, the kids all whispered and made bets amongst themselves over how quickly the whiskered boy was going to get beaten this time. Since he was fighting Kiba in this round, everyone believed that his match was only going to last a few seconds.

Everyone braced themselves and waited for the inevitable moment where the spiky haired kid would get sent flying out of the ring by a single punch after charging head on into his opponent.

However, much to everyone's shock, as soon as Kiba dashed in with a swing, Naruto retaliated with superb effect.

A loud crack rang out as the young Inuzuka clansman was suddenly sent skidding back across the dirt after attempting to block a solid counter thrown by his foe. His feet digging into the floor to stop himself from flying, the scruffy haired boy with the red marks on his cheeks and sharp eyes dropped to his knee and panted heavily. When he looked up from his crouched over position and saw the dust start to settle, he spotted Naruto standing several feet away with his fist extended and a very intense look on his face.

Iruka blinked in surprise at seeing the display of raw strength and precision by the whiskered child, while the rest of his class standing around him gaped in astonishment.

"Wow… did you see that?" Ino asked, while looking between the intensely glaring Naruto and the surprised Kiba in disbelief. "That was insane."

"Y-Yeah," Sakura stuttered, raising her hands to her chin as she stared across at the blond in amazement. "He just knocked Kiba back with one punch… and after dodging all those fast slashes and kicks too."

Ami, looking across at her companions beside her, stuttered nervously. "Have you ever seen the class clown do that before?"

Her friend Kasumi- a tall girl with a mean face and orange, curly hair- shook it in response. "N-No. I haven't."

As Iruka took a deep breath and proceeded to jot down notes, Kiba, reaching up to brush his chin to make sure he wasn't bleeding, then glanced up at the boy in alarm. _"He hit me so hard my blocking arm bounced off my face. What the hell?"_ When he looked back up towards the blond youngster and saw him glaring back at him from his fighting stance, the wild-looking Inuzuka let out a low growl before dashing forward. _"I don't know how he did that, but I'll get him this time! That must've just been a lucky shot!"_

He knew Naruto- the overly ambitious, talentless, dead-last and outcast of the class, who was beaten consecutively in every test and subject by every other student. As much as he liked the kid's bravado, Kiba knew that he absolutely sucked at being a shinobi. There was no way an orphan like him could go toe-to-toe with a trained member of the main family of the Inuzuka Clan. It was ludicrous.

But as Kiba leapt at Naruto and swung at him with a punch, the blonde effortlessly side-stepped around him, before beginning to dodge and parry the flurry of blows that came afterwards. The Inuzuka grunted and shouted as he lashed out at the child with punch after punch- his fists whooshing through the air as he attempted to nail his target. But try as he might, Naruto just kept calmly hopping and slipping around him, the occasionally occurring thud ringing out as he deflected each of his punches.

As the little spar dragged on, the kids watching from the sidelines were in somewhat awe of the display, as they could see Naruto was doing pretty damn well against the kid who was regarded as the second best taijutsu fighter in the class. Even Iruka was blown away by what was happening, especially when he saw Naruto parry Kiba's hook and shove him back with a palm strike to the chest, before checking the kid's kick and then shoving him back a second time in a row for distance.

Naruto was fighting defensively using some very slick, textbook moves. Naruto _never_ fought defensively.

On top of all that, as the rest of the kids watched Naruto and Kiba duke it out, the class's resident prodigy Sasuke Uchiha was also looking on with a somewhat astonished gaze. His dark eyes traced the blonde's movements as he moved about the small ring with barely any effort, using deft footwork and parrying techniques that the boy didn't know the blonde had. What's more, his unperturbed expression was a stark contrast to Kiba's aggressive one- the six-year-old Inuzuka shouting as he attempted to land a hook against Naruto.

Inhaling deeply as he stepped around Kiba when the kid dove at him with a haymaker, Naruto then switched his hand positions into a southpaw stance- his left fist being drawn to his face while his right fist remained extended in a very professional fashion. He then watched as Kiba spun back around to glare at him- his face dripping with sweat and teeth clenched tightly. When the blond noticed the frustration burning in the kid's eyes, the whiskered child smiled and relaxed, allowing his fists to relax and become open hands.

Iruka noticed this right away and, for the first time in his life as a teacher, shook his head at Naruto in a double take. _"Hold on… that looks exactly like Hinata's stance."_ Watching Naruto lower his posture as he held a palm forward, the man then glanced across at the purple haired girl in question, who he saw had also noticed this distinct change.

The heiress to the Hyuuga Clan, hands clenched at her sides, blinked in amazement. _"That's a… main family Juken form?"_

Kiba, not paying any mind to the boy's posture alteration, huffed before rushing forward. "Come on, dead last! Attack me!" he barked, his feet pounding against the floor as he loaded back his fist for a punch.

Naruto, meanwhile, remaining completely at ease, shrugged back at the charging boy. "Okay," he answered.

Everything that happened next, happened in an instant. The second Kiba's fist flew towards Naruto's head, the blond effortlessly swung his guard arm around and slapped the kid's attack aside. This manoeuvre effortlessly cracked open the Inuzuka's defence and left him wide open for a follow-up, which the whiskered boy delivered to him in the form of a swift palm strike to the stomach. His hand cut through the air and buried into Kiba's torso like a lance, impacting with a dull crack that not only knocked the air out of the scruffy boy's lungs, but hit with such force it lifted him off his feet.

The moment spit came flying out of Kiba's gaping mouth, the boy was sent blasting and bouncing several meters out of the ring. His body practically tumbled head over ass across the dirt before coming to a crumpled stop several yards from the white circle. When the dust settled, it left Kiba lying on his back and Naruto standing in the centre of the arena with his hand out and index and middle fingers extended.

As Kiba's sprawled out form coughed and the blond stepped out of his stance, the initially stunned crowd of children began to chatter excitedly, with Iruka snapping out of his trance to give his final verdict. "A-Alright. That was an incredibly well fought round. Good job you two. Especially you, Naruto," the man with the scar across his nose said, earning a cheerful smile and nod from the boy in question. "You okay, Kiba?"

"Y-Yeah…" the boy groaned and sniffled, slowly pushing himself back up. "I… I think so." His pride feeling even more bruised than his ribs, the scrappy young kid took his time finding both his feet and his balance. It was only when he suddenly saw Naruto's hand being held out to him that he managed to completely regain his sense of awareness, resulting in him looking up at the class clown to see his whiskered face grinning back at him.

"Here. Need some help?" Naruto asked.

Blinking a little in surprise at being given a hand by the normally argumentative and braggy blond, Kiba inevitably accepted the boy's offer and locked grips, allowing himself to be hauled to his feet. As soon as he was up, the brown-haired Inuzuka smiled. "Thanks, man." Once he was back up and was able to dust down his hooded jacket, the boy then gave Naruto a toothy grin. "Damn. I didn't know you could fight so well. How did you do that?"

Naruto smiled, "Don't know. I've just had a lot of practice in my free time recently. Guess I just didn't notice how much I'd improved." He then raised his fist and bumped the boy in the arm. "Next time watch out. Cause I might wind up hitting you with something a little bit nastier than just a palm strike. If I'm feeling mean anyway."

At first recoiling at this remark, Kiba then gave a big laugh before smirking at the kid. "I'll keep that in mind." He then lifted his fist and bumped knuckles with him. "But just so you know, I won't let you tag me so easily next time. That I can promise you."

"Heh. We'll see, dattebayo," Naruto grinned, before the two of them eventually stepped away from one another and gave their opponent the _Sign of Reconciliation_. Once they did, the pair then stepped away from one another and walked back over to join the others. Iruka looked on approvingly as the student he viewed as a younger brother reunited with his peers, all of whom were now regarding Naruto with a little more respect and intrigue than before.

While Kiba was greeted by a patiently waiting Shino, who was quick to remark about his defeat, Sasuke was currently standing on the edge of the crowd and staring hard at the blond who'd dealt the Inuzuka such a handy loss. Obviously, the whiskered kid's performance had garnered quite a bit of attention from the rest of the class, most notably the room's star pupil and prodigy. Even Hinata, the normally quiet and most reserved of the students, was giving the boy a hard glare.

As all of this was going on, up on the second floor of the academy building, in the homeroom of the kunoichi Suzume's class, the familiar face of Naruto's close friend Yakumo Kurama could be seen looking down at the courtyard from the very back. Noticing the P.E and taijutsu session that was taking place through the glass, the brunette had watched the entire class with Iruka's group go down. Upon seeing Naruto take to the ring and use his newly refined fighting style to deliver a swift defeat to one of the boys, a warm smile of delight crossed her lips.

Suffice to say that their efforts together were certainly starting to pay with interest…

XXX

(A few weeks later)

"One!"

"_**HA!"**_

"Two!"

"_**HA!"**_

"THREE!"

"_**HA!"**_

"Dig deep! Find your inner strength! Let the enemy know you are delivering the blow… not receiving it," the firm, commanding voice of the female Hyuuga instructor shouted as she walked between the rows of twenty adolescent branch and main clan students. Her hands propped behind her and white eyes wide open, the female with the scar across her cheek scanned the rows of tiny soldiers in front of her, watching as they were all assumed in a striking position.

Palms fully extended, the children, all arranged in order from youngest to oldest, remained locked in position with their eyes focused on the area ahead of them. It was a very dignified spectacle, seeing all the young members of the clan sticking to their task and listening to their teacher so diligently. Obviously, she was greatly respected by the members of her clan for her skill and discipline.

The brown-haired woman then spotted a discrepancy amongst her ranks and marched forward, grabbing the guard hand of one of her students and nudging it towards his ribs. She then stepped back as the child in question, a young Hyuuga male with dark brown hair tied into a top knot, broke out a worried sweat. "In this position, keep the hand positioned over your centre mass to protect your vital areas. Do not give the enemy any openings to exploit. Understood?!"

"Hai, Fujiko-sensei!" the boy shouted back, at the same time firming up his stance.

Nodding, the woman then moved on down the rows towards the back, inspecting everyone's stances. After lightly stepping on the back foot of a student who had overextended it, prompting him to slide it back into place, she then stopped at the final row when she noticed something odd about the formation.

It wasn't the fact that the students were doing anything incorrectly, no. All of them were lined up and standing perfectly. It was the fact that two of the students, who were standing on the far left of the arrangement, weren't members of any of the Hyuuga Clan families at all.

Naruto and Yakumo, who had been watching quietly from the entrance since the start of the lesson a few minutes ago, had decided to come out to join the class and inset themselves into their ranks. Hoping that they would go unnoticed, the two children had both left their vest and art bag by the archway, and approached the group wearing only the shirt, pants and kimono they were wearing respectively.

The two sneaky shinobi-in-training had managed to slip into the back row of seven-year-old Hyuuga students and had been practicing the techniques with their class without drawing any attention to themselves. That was until the instructor, Fujiko, marched towards the back to inspect her troops.

It was a rather bizarre and unexpected turn of events.

For the next minute the kunoichi stood there staring down at the pair curiously, at the same time observing as several of her students turned their attention to them yet remained in their fighting stances. After looking over the out-of-place seven-year-olds for a moment, the woman raised an eyebrow as she saw they were doing their best not to move in any way. This was obvious from the way they had their eyes fixed on the space ahead and all their focus set squarely on the lesson.

"_These are the two children that have been showing up and watching our lessons for the last few months," _Fujiko thought, her eyes tracing over the children and taking note of their forms. _"They haven't missed a single one."_ This much was clear from how clean and steady their stances were.

She hadn't seen anything like it. Noticing the quality of their postures had the woman nod her head in an impressed manner.

After several moments of tense silence and watching the pair sweat a little bit out of sheer nerves- especially since they'd both been caught- Fujiko then cracked a smile and looked back at her class. Noticing the children were looking back at her, her expression steeled once more and she shouted, "HEY! Who said any of you could break form?!" She then watched all the children snap back to their previous positions before she once again glanced down at the newcomers. "Keep that stance tight and centre of gravity low. Understand?"

Naruto and Yakumo nodded simultaneously. _**"Hai!"**_

Smiling brightly, as the intrigue of taking on two outsiders into their class seemed like quite a fun prospect, the woman then turned and marched on. "Let's get back to it!" the Hyuuga woman shouted, keeping her hands locked behind her while moving towards the front. "Twisting palm strikes! On my count! ONE!"

"_**HA!"**_

"Two!"

"_**HA!"**_

"Three!"

"_**HA!"**_

And so, class continued, with two surprise additions to the group, both of whom were more than thrilled to be there…

* * *

(After the next three months)

The most astonishing thing about Naruto and Yakumo's arrangement so far was that despite the multitude of days and hours the pair were spent together, their training had gone on completely unnoticed by most of the village. Apart from the Hyuuga household that held the regular taijutsu classes in the courtyard with all their prospective young members, all the other clans were completely oblivious to the pair's secret lessons. Even the parents, teachers and caretakers responsible for overseeing the pair's wellbeing were unaware of what they were doing in their off time.

While Yakumo's parents assumed that their daughter was going out to do painting out in the woods or to walk around _Konohagakure_, the Third Hokage and Iruka thought that Naruto was just occupying his time with something else. Neither of them really had anything to worry because none of them had gotten into any trouble or wound up in hospital for a whole, so they assumed they were making productive use of their time.

Self-reliance was the corner stone to their society after all.

Nevertheless, Naruto and Yakumo made sure to keep things discreet, as they didn't want anything or anybody ruining the friendship they had. Neither of them wanted to lose the order, nor did they want to be separated for any reason, as the pair relied on the other to fill in the parts of them that they lacked. Yakumo counted on Naruto's valour, courage, compassion, and spirit to push her through her training, while the blond hero saw wisdom, guidance, and warmth in the brunette's company, where he found nothing else.

As a pair, the duo was able to make breakthroughs in their development and training that they never thought they'd ever be able to achieve in the amount of time that'd passed. Despite their unique blend of inaptitude and ambition, in the span of only six months, the two of them were able to climb up from the bottom of the barrel and establish themselves as upper mid-tier capable shinobi-in-training. And all of this came about just from them working together.

After coming this far and knowing they still had a long way to go, Naruto and Yakumo didn't want their time together to end.

However, as fate would have it, good things like this hardly ever lasted…

* * *

(One Wednesday afternoon)

Following a rather hectic day at school and an equally hectic day of training, Naruto and Yakumo had once again found themselves whittling the closing hours of their weekday together at one of the village's local parks. Almost immediately upon arriving at the reserve, the two shinobi-in-training honed in on one of the empty benches and sat themselves down for a rest, where they then spent the next half an hour admiring the sun setting and the interesting collections of tools they'd managed to pick up from their quick stop at the village's shopping district.

Having paid a visit to one of the blacksmiths in the area to try and scrounge up some equipment they could use for their private training- using the _Henge no Jutsu_ (Transformation Technique) to trick the store owners into selling to them- the pair were able to walk away with not only a bag full of iron marbles that Naruto was keen to try out, but a couple of other trinkets that'd caught their eyes.

The first and most prominent of which was a rather odd looking, ring-shaped tool, which the orphan had found at the back amongst some of the prototype woodcutter tools.

Built as a sort of hand-cranked, primitive buzz-saw that was specifically designed to cut branches and trunks, the device featured a cylindrical hand grip wrapped in leather, and a thin, metal disk built around it. The hand grip, which rested directly in the centre of the ring, also had a built-in trigger along the shaft that- when unlocked and squeezed by the wielder- would cause the ring to spin at high speed. The blades that were fitted to the ring would then cut into the surface it was applied to… with surprising efficiency.

At first the device seemed quite unorthodox and unwieldy from a handyman's perspective. However, when Naruto tried it out at the store and noticed that the blades were capable of being detached, an idea quickly struck him.

After playing around with the fittings for a moment and removing the buzz saw blades already attached to the ring, the child then picked up the Fuma Shuriken he'd bought and disassembled it. Removing two of the blades on the collapsible shuriken, he then wedged the blades into the two sides of the saw ring. Locking them in place with the screws and bolts provided, the whiskered blond then gave the weapon a try.

Holding his arm out and unlocking the trigger, Naruto then squeezed the weapon's handle a couple times on its first test run. He and Yakumo then proceeded to watch in awe as the two, sword-like blades of the Fuma Shuriken began to spin around the handle like a propeller. A loud whooshing sound echoed out as the spiky haired troublemaker cranked the handle even more, causing the blades to spin so fast that it was almost like he was holding a helicopter blade in his hand.

Considering the lightness of the Fuma shuriken, Naruto was able to hold his arm in front of him effortlessly and without any strain. The success of his invention caused the boy to laugh out joyously as he stood up and began pointing the spinning blade in different directions. "This is so damn cool, Ya-chan! Look at it go!" he exclaimed, squeezing the trigger a couple more times before then hitting the lock button, which stopped the two blades from spinning dead so that they pointed from both the top and bottom of the handle- essentially making the buzz-saw a duel-bladed melee weapon. "Ha-ha! Awesome!" Naruto laughed, before swinging the blades out.

Yakumo giggled at the ecstatic look on her training partner's face as he played around with his new toy. "Your imagination and ingenuity know no bounds, Naruto-kun," the girl remarked, seeing her friend stop swinging his weapon about to grin down at her. "I can't believe you actually managed to think this up. How did you do it?"

The boy shrugged. "Don't know. I guess… I just saw something special about this disk thing, y'know… and that it could be used for more than just wood carving," the whiskered kid replied, meeting the girl's gaze before then nodding down to her lap. "What about you? Did you think up something you could use that for?"

In response, the brunette then picked up the sickle she'd bought and held it delicately between her fingers. "Yeah. At least I think I did," she thought, standing up and moving to stand in front of her friend. Taking the sickle into one hand, she then swung it back and forth a couple of times before beaming at him. "I'm actually considering mixing this in with my genjutsu and taijutsu. Perhaps I could make it produce a dangerous glow to confuse and intimidate my opponents while in battle."

"Oh? So, you mean… like having the blade shoot out fire or something?" Naruto asked, trying to venture a guess what his friend was thinking. "Or perhaps even clouds of ice?"

"Yeah. Something like that," Yakumo answered, her own smile returning as she then held the weapon out to the side so that its curved, silver blade flashed under the light of the slowly setting sun. "Or, like you, I could just get really good at fighting with it and use it to go head-to-head with my opponents. Whack them around a little."

Naruto, sensing a potential challenge building, gave the girl a grin before swinging his own duel-bladed sword out. "Oh-ho… is that so?" He then watched and waited as Yakumo slid into a fighting stance, her weapon held forward in a feigned attempt to appear like she was going to attack. Eager to play along, the blonde stepped back into his own stance while bringing his weapon out to his side like a javelin. "Okay then. If that's the case, then let's see what you've got, Ya-chan."

Without using too much force or effort, both children swung their weapons at each other and clacked blades in the middle. Wanting to get a proper feel for the tools they'd bought, the pair slowly and carefully started trading blows along the footpath- parrying one another in turns as they spent the next few minutes getting used to their blades' lengths and weight.

As they played, both Naruto and Yakumo were unable to hide the grins that'd appeared on their faces, making it clear that the two were having a great time testing their newly purchased weapons. Upon adjusting to the distance and the grips of their respective assets, the pair then sped up their exchange, to the point that their little playfight beside the bench had transformed into a miniature sparring match.

Unfortunately, their fun was not to last, as after knocking one another away, a loud shout from behind startled them.

"YAKUMO!"

Both kids spinning about in alarm, the two friends suddenly saw a tall, middle-aged man with long-brown hair, grey eyes, a thin moustache, and wearing a formal kimono rushing over to them. When their eyes fell upon the approaching, frantic adult, Naruto was left at a complete loss- as he had no idea who the heck the stranger was. Yakumo however did, the girl lowering her sickle as an expression of surprise and then panic crossed over her gentle visage.

"P-Papa?" the girl whiskered, alerting her best friend to the identity of the adult.

"Huh? Your dad?" Naruto asked, moments before the pair were confronted by the adult when he stopped in front of them.

"Papa? W-What are you doing out here?" Yakumo asked, sounding and appearing completely confused. "I thought you and mum were going to be busy tonight."

A tense expression framed Murakumo Kurama's face, as his seasoned eyes stared down at his beloved daughter. "I came looking for _you_. Your mother and I got worried because you said you were going to come home straight after school to have dinner with the rest of the clan!"

Yakumo, quickly remembering she'd had other plans that evening, gasped quietly. "Oh. Yes. But… But I-" She then stopped when she noticed her father look her over.

"What in the world are you doing? Practicing with weapons?" he asked, his eyes falling on the sickle she was holding. When he saw the girl pull back slightly, his frown only deepened. "Sweetheart… you of all people should know that you can't fight using heavy shinobi tools and equipment. You'll tire yourself out and hurt yourself if you try swinging around something like this, just like you did when Kurenai-sensei tried to get you to use a katana. Remember?"

"I-I know, papa. But… But I've gotten a lot better since last year. Much better!" Yakumo said loudly, stepping forward while clutching her newly bought weapon to her chest. She gave her father a desperate look when she saw his jaw stiffen. "I swear, I can run fifty times further and faster than before, and spar with the other kids in my age group! I can even do the obstacle courses Suzume-sensei makes us do all by myself, without any help!"

Her father didn't hear her of course, because at that moment his eyes fell upon Naruto. When he saw the youngster take a cautious step back under his gaze, Murakumo gave him a quick look over. When he spotted his whiskers and his hair, he recognized him instantly. "You are…" Blood running cold, the father inhaled sharply before reaching forward, picking up his daughter's bag from the bench, and then grabbing his child by the arm. "Come on, sweetheart. We have to go."

"W-Wait… papa!" Yakumo shouted, her voice sounding shocked as she suddenly felt her body get yanked along by her father. Being a Jonin and one who was physically versed in the ways of the shinobi, the man had no trouble at all in removing her from Naruto's side- the latter of whom could only look on in utter confusion as his friend pulled back. "W-Why do we have to go? What's wrong?"

In response, Murakumo quickly looked down at his daughter and glared. "That boy… you're not to look at him or go anywhere near him. He's dangerous," he hissed, before continuing to pull his little girl along as she dragged her feet behind him.

Yakumo was stunned, her brown eyes gazing up at her father as he forcefully yet carefully pulled her away from the park. "B-But why?" she asked, not knowing what her parent meant by any of those words as he refused to look back at the blond child. "Naruto-kun's my best friend! I met him at the academy!"

"Yes. And now I'm telling you to stay away from him," the man said back tersely, without even the slightest hint of hesitation. His words cut into his daughter like a knife, leaving her gaping up at him as she walked alongside him. "Trust me, sweetheart. You are too important to risk hanging out with the likes of that child."

"No! Papa! Wait!" Yakumo shouted, crying out as she attempted to pull back. Doing so resulted in her dropping the sickle weapon that she'd been holding. When she attempted to pick it up, she was pulled out of reach- leaving the curved tool lying in the middle of the footpath.

In a matter of moments, both the defiant girl and her father had left the park, leaving a stunned Naruto standing in place and wondering what had just happened. When realization eventually clicked in seconds later, the child felt his body deflate and a familiar, cold feeling wrap around his body.

When the sun finally set a minute later, the orphan was left all alone.

OOO

(Later that night)

Naruto had no idea how long he'd stood out there in that park after Yakumo's father took the girl away.

An hour?

Two?

Whatever amount of time had passed, it wasn't nearly enough for the child to get over the terrible sensation of long, icy fingers wrapping around his body and clenching his chest- causing not only his breathing to shallow but his spirit to ebb. His head hanging low as a result and hiding the horrible sadness that welled up in his eyes, the child then used whatever strength he could muster to collect his things, pick up his best friend's weapon, and slink his way back to his apartment a whole suburb over.

The world seemed to fade out around the academy student as he carelessly slogged back up the steps to his building and entered his third-story home. The haze of bleak, unforgiving defeat and loss remained even after he dropped his things in the living room and dragged himself over to his bed, where he then threw himself down onto the cool blankets and curled up in the middle of the mattress.

From there, his eyes then fixed themselves upon his bedroom wall, in which he felt everything in his immediate view melt away into nothingness, and all remaining light fade into the back of his mind. His hands clenching his legs, Naruto felt his entire body tighten as the urge to hold back tears quickly took precedence.

The trembling started, as did the lip quivering. After minutes ticked by and the night draped over the entirety of _Hi no Kuni _(Land of Fire), the youngster was left shivering atop his bed, as dread and misery slowly began creeping up on him from the corners of his sanctuary.

"_It's just like last time… and every other time…"_ Naruto thought, as memories of days where children he'd been playing with had been dragged away by their parents, slowly flooded his mind. He saw Shikamaru, Choji and Kiba being taken away by their fathers, all of whom told them to steer clear of him and to not go near him.

When an hour past and Naruto found himself unable to get to sleep, his mind had become saturated with the images of children playing around him and entire crowds of people looking away from him- their faces draped in shadow of complete disconnect- as he stood there, his face in his hands and tears trickling down his face. The joy that they shared with one another and the cold, merciless indifference they gave him, fixed in the boy's mind and ate away at his soul.

Once again, those same tears had started to appear in the corners of Naruto's eyes- the boy tensing up even more as he pulled his knees closer to him to comfort himself. But try as he might, even with all his great strength and sense of reason, he was unable to stop the dam from bursting.

"_Why…"_ Naruto thought, sobbing into his sheet as his trembling jaw clenched and hands fisted around his covers. _"Why does everybody leave me…"_

"_Why does everyone hate me…"_

"_Why am I always alone…"_

These questions manifested in his head as he slowly plunged further and further into sadness, unable to find any cheer or warmth in the world that'd now surrounded him. It almost felt like a part of him had been ripped away by an otherworldly force, leaving his spirit to bleed out and die. That was the only way the orphan could describe the sensations clutching him and threatening to drag him into oblivion.

As exhaustion slowly began to settle in, Naruto braced himself for the inevitable. But then, just when the cold was about to take hold and trap him, a rap at his bedroom window suddenly rose him from his sleep.

"Naruto-kun. Naruto-kun!"

"Yakumo?" Hearing the girl's familiar voice, Naruto sharply rolled over and sat up, his teary, red eyes adjusting to the dim light coming in through the glass. When they did, he quickly spotted the brunette staring at him from the other side- the girl having perched herself on the railing beneath the sill. Realizing that she was practically hanging from his third story gutter, the blond scrambled off his bed, undid the latch, and threw the window open "Ya-chan! How-" He was promptly cut off when the desperate girl jumped at him and wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug.

Both stumbling over till they reached the bed, the pair then collapsed against the side of it and fell to the floor- Yakumo keeping her face buried in Naruto's neck and vice-versa. A full five minutes after the girl practically barrelled into his room without so much of a word of greeting, the two hugging children finally parted moments later. Upon which they were finally able to get a good look of the other's face in the dark of the room- where they saw the redness in their cheeks and the tears that'd been brimming in both their eyes.

Breathing deeply as he felt his trembling settle into a light shiver, Naruto reached up and pressed a hand against her cheek. "Y-Ya-chan… how did… why did you-?"

Sniffing, the brunette looked into the whiskered child's blue eyes as her dry lips cracked open, "I… I broke out my window… ran away from home…"

"B-But… but why?" Naruto whispered, still unable to believe that his friend had run across the entire village from her clan compound to reunite with him. His young brain just couldn't comprehend it, since this was the first time he could remember someone he knew ever going out of their way to come to his apartment. "Aren't your parents… going to be super mad at you? Why did you come all the way to my place?"

Taking a breath to steady herself, the still clearly upset Yakumo gritted her teeth before speaking in a shaky voice. "M-My father and mother… told me that I should never speak to you ever again. That we should… never hang out or play ever again." She saw Naruto's face change from surprised to disbelief, with the brunette quickly continuing with her recount. "They said… that they were going to write to the academy… forbidding me from seeing you. That I was to start making different friends… friends that I could actually play with…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

With Naruto being too at a loss to say anything, the hysterical Yakumo breathed heavily for a few seconds before swallowing and shaking her head. "But I don't want that! I don't want to have any other friends… not if I have to abandon you, Naruto-kun," the brunette replied, before looking him in the eyes and beaming. "I… you're… you're my best friend. I could never leave you behind. Not ever. Not after everything you've done for me."

Naruto, his heartbeat quickening at hearing the girl's words, then felt his chest immediately swell. Light suddenly returning to him in waves and filling his body with warmth once more, the blond felt a smile tug at his lips before transforming into a clear, yet weak grin. "You're my best friend too, Ya-chan. The greatest, smartest friend I've ever had."

Emotions running high as the pair beamed at each other, they then leaned forward and embraced once more. Hands clawing at the other's back as they hugged each other, both the young boy and girl remained there on the floorboards, leaning against the bed, and breathing into each other's neck. Though uncomfortable and though their legs were falling asleep, the two didn't care. They were just happy to be back with their partner once more.

As their shaky breathing and trembling slowly faded, becoming replaced by calm and joy, Naruto and Yakumo opened their eyes and whispered to each other.

"No matter what anyone says… my mum… my dad… or the village… let's stay together, Naruto-kun," the Kurama Clan heiress said.

Naruto nodded, smiling brightly as he slowly leaned back to beam at the girl. "Yeah. Let's. We'll protect each other from now on… and watch each other's backs. Agreed?"

The girl nodded her head vigorously and gasped happily. "Yes."

So overcome with joy, the two kids remained locked as they were, smiling at each other for what felt like hours. To the two of them, declaring their friendship to one another and solidifying the bond that they'd formed over the past several months, seemed almost too good to be true. Even the cold, nightly breeze filtering in from the open window and flooding the room with a biting chill, didn't do anything to disrupt the moment the two youngsters were sharing.

In fact, the previously overwhelmed Naruto was willing to bet that if he was to look to the full-length mirror standing at the foot of his bed, he knew that he was going to see him and Yakumo still sitting together on the ground… and that this was _not_ a dream.

He did just that, craning his head over to burn the image of the two of them together.

However, when he looked towards his standing mirror and expected one thing, as soon as his eyes fell upon it, he saw another thing altogether.

In that moment, the blonde's blue eyes slowly stretched open from a look of confusion to one of horror, for as he stared into the glass- instead of seeing his reflection gazing back at him- he saw the tall, kimono-clad form of Yakumo standing in the mirror and staring right at him. Only, the look on this girl's face wasn't of the kind, warm glow he'd come to know from her. It was a visage with a furrowed brow and a twisted, toothy smile, which pulled at her cheeks and stretched almost from ear to ear. The shadow that cast over the girl's eyes and the bangs that fell over her forehead, also gave her a further air of menace, which in turn sent a chill running down Naruto's spine.

Even after blinking and shaking his head to try and clear himself of any remaining haze, the blonde still saw the Yakumo reflection standing in the mirror and leering murderously back at him silently- like a scene from a ghostly film.

When Yakumo felt Naruto's body freeze in her arms and saw his expression change, the girl blinked. "Naruto-kun? What's wrong?"

"L-L-Look…" the boy stuttered, a stark contrast from the brave, courageous character he always showed.

Confused, Yakumo looked, and she too saw the ghostly vigour staring back at them. Gasping in fright, the girl's arms wrapped even tighter around Naruto, as both she and him gaped back at the grinning version of her standing in the mirror several feet away. The two children froze, as they had no idea who or what it was, they were looking at.

A tense minute ticked by in which both parties stared at one another. When the anxiety in the atmosphere finally peaked, both Naruto and Yakumo quickly stood up when, from the mirror, they watched the doppelganger Yakumo step out of it. Like a phantom the reflected girl crept into the room- squeezing through the glass with barely any weight or effort. The moment their feet touched the cold, hardwood floor on the other side, the young female swayed momentarily before stopping- their arms and shoulders slumped over in an almost undead fashion.

At first, Naruto and Yakumo did nothing. However, after staring at the ghost for a few more seconds, wondering if it was going to do something, both kids jumped when its head snapped upwards with a sickening crunch and its wide, horrifying eyes locked onto them from under the long bangs of its brown hair. Then, the moment the children gave a shriek of fright, the ghostly Yakumo dashed forward at blinding speed, grabbed the two of them by their necks, and slammed the pair against the back wall- right next to the blonde's bed.

Their feet dangling a few inches off the ground, both Naruto and Yakumo gasped in panic as the phantom pushed them against the hard barrier. Feeling its fingers tighten around their throats, the blonde and brunette kicked at the air helplessly, all the while their hands grabbed at the wrists of the girl holding them in place and threatening to choke them out.

Then, as the pair of terrified children stared down at the now messy-haired Yakumo clone, they saw the fake's head peer up, before her skin and face morphed into an entirely new form. In the blink of an eye, following several loud crunching sounds, the two kids suddenly found themselves confronted by a dark-skinned, nightmarish creature with long horns, blue eyes, and enormous fangs- one that was still adorned in Yakumo's robes and hair. The sight of its cold eyes glaring back at them from its oni-like face was so horrendous that Naruto and Yakumo would've screamed if they were able to. But thanks to the grip it had around their throats, neither of them was even able to muster a squeak.

All the pair of them could do was hang their and gasp as the creature leaned in close and snarled.

After it did, a low, nightmarish voice reverberated from its wrinkly throat. _**"So… we finally meet… face-to-face…"**_ When the oni's eyes at first scanned Yakumo, they then snapped over to Naruto, who felt his entire body seize up at the look of manic excitement that filled the demon's irises. _**"Naruto… Uzumaki…"**_

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


	4. Academy Arc - Unhinged

**Author's Note:** The story starts picking up steam here by giving the characters their motivations for the future. Since Yakumo Kurama is one of the main characters, this fic will obviously be taking elements from not only the films, but also the anime and other future events. Obviously with the anime filler episodes, there were things that I liked and things that I didn't like. Princess Hana from the Land of Green, Princess Koyuki from the Land of Snow, Ryuzetsu and Shion are among some of my favourite aspects from the movies and anime, including the stories. I also thought the villains Ishidate, Karenbana and Kongo from the Crescent Moon movie were also really cool and underrated, since they used fighting styles that aren't really seen in the main storyline and could tango with the likes of Naruto, Kakashi, Lee and Sakura with relative ease. I just wish they were expanded on a little more.

This chapter, I plan on bridging the gap between this current arc and the next one by giving Naruto and Yakumo the push they need to decide what their ultimate futures will be, and how they will invoke change in their world.

* * *

**NARUTO**

_**Black Sun**_

_Unhinged_

"_If you don't deal with your demons, they will deal with you, and it's gonna hurt."_

_-Nikki Sixx_

* * *

Feeling the numbness in his neck slowly start to spread to every part of his body, the gagging, gasping, and terrified Naruto continued to struggle against the vice-like grip of the long, devilish hand currently wrapped around his throat. Sweat dripping down his face as his heart hammered in his ears, the child then craned his head to see if Yakumo was alright. When he saw that his friend was in the exact same position as he was- choking and gasping for air as she kicked at the wall in an attempt to break free- the boy felt a sense of anger course through him as he turned his gaze back to the creature holding them.

When he saw the horned oni direct its wide, menacing grin on him, Naruto snarled. "L-Let us go," he rasped, barely able to get words through as he felt the palm press against his throat. Not enough to fully choke him, but enough to make his current position even more uncomfortable than it already was. "Or… or I'll…"

The demon dressed in Yakumo's clothes and hair snickered, _**"Or you'll what?"**_

Snapping his teeth, the desperate child squirmed even more as his fingers dug into the monster's wrist. "Or else… ngh… I'll k-kill you!"

A chuckle left the oni's thin lips as its grey eyes bore into the blonde. _**"That's cute."**_ Glancing across at Yakumo and then back at the boy a couple of times, the ghostly fiend exhaled deeply. _**"I think I won't. I like you better like this."**_

While Naruto writhed and fought, attempting to kick out at the oni's face that was barely out of reach, due to it having extended its arms, an equally angry and terrified Yakumo squirmed as well before barking in a hoarse voice. "W-Who… are… you? What are you?"

"_**Oooh… now that's hurtful, Yakumo-chan," **_the oni hissed in a low voice as she glared across at the brunette resting between her fingers. _**"After all that we've been through together… the pain, the frustration, the loneliness, our slew of constant failures… to hear that you don't even recognize me, wounds my cold, damp heart."**_ The last bits the demon spoke, she emphasized with a growl.

Yakumo, appearing momentarily confused through her fear, clenched her jaw tightly. "I… don't know… w-what you're talking about…"

"_**But you should, my dear,"**_ the oni whispered, its fangs glinting in the dim light as it continued to eye the pair in front of her almost hungrily. _**"Come on. You're a smart girl. I'm sure you can piece it all together and figure it out."**_ There was a long moment of pause, in which the female ogre watched and waited for a response from either of her prey. However, upon seeing the defiant glares being shot back at it, the grey-skinned beast gave an exasperated sigh. _**"Perhaps I should try a different approach."**_

Sensing danger, the trapped Naruto kicked out at her and missed. "Y-You ain't trying nothing!" the boy barked, drawing the creature's glare back to him. "Just… let us go! Right now!"

At that, the oni snickered under its breath, before eventually starting to laugh. Its terrifying voice cackling through the cold air of the room sending chills down the children's numbing spines, the phantom creature of myth then gave the pair one last look before snapping its eyes towards Naruto.

"_**Now why would I want to go do something like that?"**_ the creature asked, a blue mist suddenly starting to seep off its body and saturate the air above it. As Naruto and Yakumo watched the smoke billow and felt the pressure on them slowly build, the oni then inhaled sharply before tightening its grip. _**"Why let you both run away and leave me all alone… when there's sooo much more I WANT TO LEEEEAARN!"**_ The creature suddenly screamed, before violently pushing the two kids into the wall.

At least that's what it felt like to them. The moment Naruto and Yakumo watched the creature shove them straight through the bedroom wall, they saw the entire world in front of them shatter like glass before the two of them started to fall. As wind rushed past them and their bodies started to tumble head over heel- over and over- the pair of children then let out simultaneous cries of terror as they found themselves plummeting uncontrollably through a world of black and purple swirling clouds.

Down and down the pair fell through the rabbit hole, their bodies churning, turning, flipping and spinning through the air currents rushing up to meet them. Able to steady themselves after many rolls, Naruto quickly guided himself over to Yakumo, reaching out with his hand to take hers. After several snatches, he manages to grab her, which ended with the two children pulling themselves together and embracing.

"Naruto-kun!" Yakumo shouted, clenching her eyes shut as the roar of the wind echoed past their ears.

"Ya-chan!" the boy replied, not knowing what the hell was happening.

For several seconds they spiralled through the void together, unable to stop their fall no matter how much they prayed, pleaded, and imagined. However, as the darkness gave way to further light and the winds started to die around them, the pair suddenly noticed a floor fast approaching them. Knowing what was sure to come, both kids shut their eyes tightly and braced themselves, seconds before their bodies became surrounded by cold and all air vanished with a clap.

Plunging deep into the body of water they'd unexpectedly plunged into, both the blond and his friend descended into the blackness, which surrounded them and cushioned their fall. When they finally stopped sinking several feet later, the pair quickly made a swim for the surface, desperately clawing and kicking at the water to escape the abyss. As soon as their heads broke to the surface, both children took in deep gulps of air- sputtering and coughing as they crawled out of the water and rested on top of it.

Choking and gasping, the two children remained on all fours as they then looked about their new surroundings. Completely overwhelmed by what'd just happened, the pair saw that they were now situated inside the high, arcing, dimly lit walls and ceiling of what appeared to be an enormous sewer- all of which was illuminated and flickering under the glow of a scattering of multiple lanterns.

Though the place certainly wasn't one the two children had expected to emerge in, what startled them even more was that they were both kneeling atop the water like it was shallow.

How they almost drowned in it seconds ago after being completely submerged under it was beyond them, but both Naruto and Yakumo could only assume it was because of the place they'd been dumped in. Everything around them seemed completely unnatural, leaving them to question over what was going to happen next.

Drying out as they balanced themselves on top of the water, the two children slowly stood up while looking around the yellow, dimly lit environment around them. By the time they managed to catch their breaths and find their feet, the pair jumped in alarm when, several yards away from them, the demonic, doppelganger of Yakumo rose up out of the water. As if being pushed to the surface by an unseen elevator, the creature stopped at the very top of the body of water and smirked at them- watching as Naruto moved defensively in front of the real Yakumo.

Glancing about, the creature scoffed, _**"So these are the lower levels of your subconscious? Hmph. I gotta say, it's a little bit depressing."**_

"You!" Naruto barked, clenching his fists angrily before then rushing forward. "Get lost, you ugly hag!"

"Naruto-kun!" Yakumo shouted in shock, "Don't!"

The boy didn't hear. Determined to protect his friend, the blond charged at the oni as it stared back at him and swung at it with a punch. However, the moment he expected his fist to make contact with the creature, his knuckles, arm, and then his entire body suddenly passed right through the beast, as if it wasn't even there. Yelping in shock after stumbling out the other side, the young Naruto then wheeled around to glare at the demon, before rushing forward to lay into it with another punch.

He passed through it a couple more times with a failed kick and a failed haymaker, which then ended with him standing in front of the creature and punching up at its face. After seeing his limbs pass through it multiple times without doing any damage, Naruto then stopped his attack and backed away- gritting his teeth and breathing hard from the effort.

The Yakumo oni meanwhile, underwhelmed by the child's efforts and his glare, tilted her head at him and cocked an eyebrow. _**"Are you done?" **_After watching the real Yakumo jog up behind the blonde and grab his sleeve with her fingers, the fiend grunted in an indignant manner. _**"I can see that we're all a little tense here. So why don't we take a moment to relax, count to ten, and…"**_ Seeing Naruto and Yakumo back up a bit, all the while still glaring nervously at her, the demon smiled through her hideous, fanged mouth. _**"Ah. But before that, how about I slip into something a little more comfortable?"**_

At first Naruto and Yakumo had no idea what this thing meant by that? However, all questions and curiosities that they had were swiftly put to rest when, crossing their arms over their face, the long-horned, long-fanged creature underwent a startling transformation. As if watching a picture fast-forward in time, the creature grew in height and changed their skin colour from sickly grey to a healthy ivory. To accompany it, their horns sunk back into their head, their teeth shortened down to normal size, and their clothes tightened.

Seconds later, Naruto and Yakumo found themselves gaping at a slender, well-built young woman with long legs, smooth skin, a beautiful face, and brown hair with braids hanging on the left side of her head. Though sporting the exact same kimono that Yakumo was wearing, due to her increase in height, the clothing stretched very provocatively around her- leaving her with her legs very exposed and her rather bountiful cleavage on display. Though these aspects were certainly striking, it was seeing the demon transform that startled the pair the most, leaving the blond and his friend gaping at the fiend as it stood before them in all her curvaceous glory.

A sigh left the young woman's lips as she lowered her crossed arms and opened her eyes, revealing a little black mole under her eye formed into a beauty mark and a pair of glowing blue eyes.

"_**There… that fe**__els_ much better," the young woman spoke, the deep echo of her demonic tone fading in the last syllables and being replaced by a very kindly, mature, breathy voice, as she then directed a smirk towards the two startled children. Noticing the boy's alarmed look, the brunette beauty smiled before setting a hand on her hip. "Well… what do you think, Naruto-kun? Do I look stunning to you?"

Naruto, being shaken out of his stumped state, then bit his teeth together before glaring back at her. "What the hell? Is this some kind of weird _Henge no Jutsu_?" (Transformation Technique)

The form the demon assumed reminded Naruto of the time he tried experimenting with the technique himself by taking on the forms of those girls he saw on the covers of those adult magazines back at the magazine stand. He figured a transformation like that would be a good method of distraction on the battlefield, allowing him to get the drop on someone before then laying into them with a killing blow.

The demon- now human- doppelganger snickered at the boy's question. "Something like that." She then took a moment to inspect herself, going the extra length of making a show of running her hands down her thin waist and pushing her chest out seductively. "Mmm… though I'm not sure if this is how I'll look in a few years' time, I think it's a pretty close fit."

Yakumo meanwhile, still standing beside Naruto, shot the older woman a harsh glare. "Enough of these stupid games! Tell us who you are and why you brought us here! Right now!"

At this, the young adult standing before the children chuckled before turning and starting to amble across the water of the sewer. "Hmm. I'm shocked that you still don't recognize me, Yakumo-chan. After all the hints I've been giving you and your little friend, I thought that you two would have been able to figure it out by now. But, since you and I are such close companions, and you're still struggling to put a name to my face, I guess I can grant you this small mercy and go right for the thick of it." Continuing to pace around the pair of worried kids, the beguiling phantom continued. "I am _you_."

This information had the duo balk, with the young brunette blinking. "Me?"

"Yes. Or to be more precise… I am your _potential_\- the physical embodiment of all your latent abilities and primal instincts anchored into a single being. A mutation of all your bodily needs, wants, desires, and impulses pooled together into a secondary consciousness. Your other half. Your dark side," the woman replied, causing the pair of children to stare at her with both complete concentration and anxiousness. "To your doctors, I am what you would call a by-product generated by the _id_ part of your psyche. But to you, Yakumo-chan… you can just call me _**Ido**_."

Yakumo and Naruto's face twisted into confusion, prompting the pair to glance at one another. When they looked back at the woman to see her ambling around with her hands behind her back, the brunette kunoichi-in-training spoke.

"You're another me… created by my thoughts and instincts?" Yakumo asked.

The demon woman chuckled. "I'm a collection of many things," Ido replied, smiling at her opposite as she stopped in her tracks. "But in simple terms, yes- I'm _another_ you. One shaped and moulded by all the emotions and experiences you spent years trying to suppress in order to maintain a calm and pure demeanour." She then brought a hand up and pressed it against her ample chest. "And because I'm you, the form and strength that I possess directly correlate with your own. A mirror image of your spirit."

Scrunching his face up in confusion, the still on guard Naruto then decided to chime in. "I don't get it though. If you were made in Yakumo-chan's mind… then how were you able to appear and attack us in the real world?"

Ido smirked. "The reason why I was able to interact with you two is due to Yakumo's unique bloodline. Surely, she's already told you all about it… as well as her talents." A sly smile of anticipation then tugged at her lips, which she then directed squarely at the youngster.

Naruto, pondering on it for a moment while looking down, suddenly felt his eyes widen before snapping his gaze back towards the adult female. "Her family's genjutsu. She can… create powerful illusions… and make them seem like they are real. Or _are_ real."

"Correct," Ido chuckled while lowering her head towards the youngsters, "You see, every few generations, a member of the Kurama Clan will be born with incredible, unparalleled talent for genjutsu. The clan member's power in that field is so absolute that even without proper training, their genjutsu is simply overwhelming- capable of feats in the arts no other users can hope to match. This includes being able to create illusions able to physically harm people trapped in them and make fake objects tangible." Ido then brought the hand back and held it against her chest. "Such frightening power however is not without its side effects."

Naruto blinked, "Side effects?"

Ido nodded, "The inheritor of the clan's kekkei genkai is equally rarely able to control the full extent of their abilities. So, in order to properly regulate their power, the subconscious creates a second personality in order to reign in their abilities and absorb the strain exerted on the user's mind." The young woman smiled as she allowed her hand to drop to her side. "I am the result of that power being distributed."

Yakumo blinked before narrowing her eyes on her older half. "So that's it. My consciousness created you as a result of my family's kekkei genkai? My gift?"

"Indeed," Ido responded, continuing to smile as she sauntered forward, causing the pair of children to backstep in alarm. "Like I said before, I'm more than just a dark apparition of the horrible, twisted corners of your thoughts, Yakumo-chan. Being born from your family's blood, I'm a living vestige of your clan's history. A relic given form by your chakra- an anomaly in your ancestors' genetics that has been passed down since the beginning of the shinobi world. I'm not simply just a second personality." She then stopped and gave the pair a wide grin. "The breadth and girth of my knowledge in genjutsu- and by extension yours- are so great, that even history's most powerful members of the vaunted Uchiha Clan would blush at the mere thought of what I'm capable of."

After Naruto and Yakumo shared a worried look with one another, the pair quickly looked back at the grinning woman with near identical frowns.

"And what exactly do you want to do with all of this great power?" Naruto asked.

Reacting in a way that made it seem like the boy had hit the nail over the head, the older Yakumo doppelganger flicked her hair back and pushed her full chest out as she straightened her back. "Oh… I don't know. Have a little bit of fun," Ido answered, causing the pair to balk as she then tilted her head at them in a rather mischievous manner. "Do you two want to venture a guess as to where we are right now?"

Having another quick glance around, Naruto then eyed the doppelganger suspiciously. "It's not a normal place. That much is clear. Since we were falling… I'm going to guess someplace deep and hidden."

"Mm-hm," Ido responded with a smirk.

"A sewer? Underground?"

"Nope," the demon woman chuckled. "Keep digging."

Yakumo, recognizing the way the air moved and vibrated around them, then glanced back at her self-proclaimed other half. "You used your… _my_ genjutsu powers… to bring us here?"

"Uh-huh," Ido replied with a nod.

"And you mentioned someone's subconscious… someone… one of us…" Yakumo muttered, scrunching her face up momentarily before her eyes widened in realization. "You… pushed us both inside Naruto-kun's head! His mind!" Hearing this caused her friend to look across at her in alarm.

"Bingo," Ido answered with a grin, before turning side-on to the pair of youngsters while watching them look around in astonishment. "Since I've gone out of my way to reveal Yakumo-chan's deepest, darkest secrets to him… I figured it was only fair that Naruto-kun did the same and gave us a glimpse of his own head. An eye for an eye, as they say."

Yakumo frowned across at her older, mischievous half. "That's a dirty move. Poking around inside my friend's head without his permission."

Clearly not caring much about boundaries, the older woman shrugged. "Genjutsu is a dirty ability. It's designed to play tricks on people. To toy with their emotions. To subvert and exceed expectations. And to bring about hope and despair to both enemies and friends alike." She then turned around and began to amble across the water, all the while watched by the pair of children from behind. After walking a few yards down the pipeline, Ido stopped and craned her head upwards, where she spotted something quite extraordinary. "Ara. Would you look at that."

When Naruto and Yakumo focused their gaze in the direction of the underground complex the phantom was staring, the pair suddenly saw a large set of iron gates loom out of the darkness. Following the glint of the metal piercing the shadows upwards, both the blonde and his friend saw that these enormous barricades stretched all the way up towards the ceiling many stories above them, and that the two doors were sealed shut by a very elaborate and hardy looking lock.

It was also covered by what looked like a sheet of parchment, with the word 'Fu' (Seal) imprinted on it.

Finding the sight quite unusual, the whiskered kid in the shirt and shorts blinked. "What is that?"

"It… looks like some kind of _fuinjutsu_," Yakumo whispered back, able to recognize the technique from some of the examples she remembered reading in a scroll. Only this one seemed a lot more complex and powerful.

While the pair of children gaped at the gargantuan iron gates, a smiling Ido tilted her head curiously. "Fascinating. Now what could possibly be dwelling inside Naruto's head that would require it to be locked up behind such a powerful barrier?" Without considering the dangers presented by the entryway, the woman decided to take a closer look- levitating off the water's surface and floating towards the gate with the curiosity of a child. The moment she hovered within arm's reach of the metal columns, she squinted through the bars and into the blackness beyond the threshold.

At first nothing happened in the first minute, as the odd trio of avatars stared silently at the huge barrier and the void before them. But then, just as they thought nothing remotely interesting was going to occur, Naruto and Yakumo both gave simultaneous shouts of fright when they saw an enormous mass come charging out of the dark. A split second later a deafening clang echoed down the tunnel when the entity swung a massive claw at the floating Ido, who casually drifted back when its paw slammed into the bars.

Its nails failing to skewer its target, the demon and children watched as the hand slowly retracted, where the group was then able to see exactly what'd tried to attack them.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" Ido asked out loud.

Naruto and Yakumo felt their jaws drop when, from the shadows of the cave, the duo saw the gargantuan, red-eyed form of a demonic fox emerge from the smoke. Its gaze surrounded by menacing, black sclera and its long snout lined with razor-sharp teeth, the beast crept into the light of the tunnel and snarled down at the trio positioned on the other side of the gate and staring up at it.

As the two children gaped at the beast whose size easily surpassed several whole blocks in the village, not only did they notice its orange hair was bristled in anger, but that it also had one, two… **nine** tails swishing about behind it. Its enormous appendages whipped through the air in rage, clearly showing that it did not like having its space invaded by the group and reacted aggressively.

That, or it didn't like being woken up.

Naruto and Yakumo were obviously stunned at seeing the creature- not just for its size, but also the fact that on first blush the thing looked incredibly terrifying. Ido on the other hand, noticing the steam gushing out of the beast's clenched jaw, smirked broadly in its direction. "I thought I sensed something off about Naruto-kun's chakra. _You_ were sealed inside of him," the woman remarked, before grinning broadly. "The beast that attacked _Konohagakure_ seven years ago… the great _**Kyuubi no Yoko**_ (Nine-Tailed Demon Fox)." She then cocked her head to the side in a haughty manner. "Hm… I thought you'd be bigger."

A low snarl left the fox's jaws as it looked upon the woman avatar floating before it. _**"Puny insect! You dare speak to me with such a dismissive tone? Don't underestimate my power. I can crush you without a second thought."**_

Ido scoffed, "Not in here, you can't. But even if you were free to move about, you wouldn't be able to touch me, fox. That I can guarantee." Ignoring the loud growl that it breathed at her as well as the swipe of warning from one of its enormous tails that rattled the bars, the floating woman turned about and smiled down at the pair of children. "This truly is an auspicious evening. I never would've guessed that the boy my little Yakumo-chan befriended was in fact the jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Demonic Fox- the enormous creature responsible for causing multiple disasters and cataclysms throughout shinobi history."

Yakumo, looking across at her friend, noticed the shocked expression that fell over him. His irises dilated, the child with whiskers and blond hair felt his legs momentarily become weak, before eventually collapsing to the floor. When his knees splashed into the shallow water, Naruto opened and closed his mouth a couple of times.

At first no sound came out- clearly illustrating just how stunned he was. But when he finally managed to speak, his voice came out in noticeably broken tones. "I… I have… the Kyuubi… inside of me?" he whispered, clearly unable to believe it as he looked down at his hands in shock. "I'm… its jinchuriki…?"

Sensing her friend was falling into a downward spiral, a clearly worried Yakumo knelt next to him and reached out- yet she reframed from touching him. Not out of a sense of fear, but out of an uncertainty of what to do. "Naruto-kun?" This was clearly a very big piece of news- one that was not at all easy to swallow.

As the reveal circled about inside his head, everything that Naruto had experienced up until this point started to come back to him. This caused the child to shiver with grief, "Everyone hating me… everyone rejecting me… ignoring me… and looking down at me. After all this time… it's… it's because they knew. They knew and I didn't…" the boy whispered, shaking his head slowly as one after the other, the pieces of the puzzle slowly started to come together. "It… it all makes sense now…"

Ido, who was still floating above the sewer, then addressed Naruto's concerns with confidence and cool. "The adults surely knew. After all, they were most likely around when the Nine-Tailed Fox went on its infamous rampage and destroyed their homes," the ghostly woman informed, drawing the youngster's gazes up to her. "The children on the other hand probably have no idea that you're even carrying the biju. They were most likely told by their parents to keep their distance and to have no interaction with you. Just like-"

"Just like what my mum and dad said to me," Yakumo gasped, the realization hitting her as well and causing her eyes to widen. When she looked back at Naruto, she saw the boy looking at her with an equal measure of shock. "My parents said for me to stay away from you. That you were a bad influence and that you would get me into trouble. They didn't mention anything about the Kyuubi."

Naruto, nodding his head silently as he gazed back at Yakumo, then glanced down once more as a new string of thoughts reached him. "But then… if… I'm the jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox… then… how come nobody ever told me about it? Hokage-jiji? Iruka-sensei? Why didn't anyone tell me why everyone hated me so much? And… what happened to my parents? Why weren't they here to help me? To look after me?" Shaking his head as he was bombarded by all these mysteries, the blond reached up and pressed his palm over his eye in a pained manner. "I… I don't know… I just… don't know…"

Able to hear everything going on over the low growling of the fox behind her, the hovering Ido smiled broadly. "Those are all very good questions," the woman phantom replied, before a rather sly smirk crossed her lips. "Why don't we ask someone?"

When Naruto and Yakumo turned their eyes back up to the demoness when they heard her say this, the two of them then saw Ido turn around and float over to the Kyuubi's gate. The fox, snarling angrily as it watched the female phantom stop before its prison, then blinked in confusion when it saw the ghost reach up, grip the side of the parchment slapped over the look, and ripped it off with a single, clean tear.

"W-What are you doing?" Naruto asked, as both he and Yakumo watched the floating apparition of the older academy student cast aside the paper seal.

Ido, glancing over her shoulder, smirked down at the pair. "For centuries my clan has attempted to purge me. To destroy me. Every time a user of our kekkei genkai was born and my presence was discovered, the other members of the family would attempt to seal me away. But each time- without fail- I've managed to break free of their restraints and have my way. An eight-pronged seal like this is nothing new to me," the ghost explained, before turning back around and smirking at the rotating, spiral lock she could see sitting in the centre of the gate. Reaching up, the woman extended her fingers and produced five, individual blue chakra flames from the tips, which burned brightly as she telekinetically took hold of the gears. "This village has gone to great lengths to shun you and forget about you, Naruto-kun. So… why don't we give them something to _**remember**_ you by."

A strained look then came over the woman's face as she proceeded to curl her fingers, causing the lock's gears and bits to groan loudly. Then, after focusing intensely on the task for several seconds, the Yakumo doppelganger then twisted her hand, the multiple latches on the lock unravelling with a series of loud clanks. Moments later, upon watching the spiral lock undo itself, the massive gates to the Kyuubi's cell were blasted open, as the fox slammed his paw into the bars and sent the entrance almost blasting off its hinges.

As a rush of wind roared down the tunnel and nearly knocked Naruto and Yakumo off their feet, the two children gazed up in horror as the massive fox stomped out of its cell and, with its teeth flashing through the dim light, dove towards the floating adult Yakumo with the intent of swallowing her up with one bite.

Ido, seeing the fox's gaping maw flying towards her, casually and calmly held up a hand, and smirked at the approaching predator.

"Heel," she ordered.

OOO

(Meanwhile)

Hiruzen, having had his nose buried in scrolls for the better part of the afternoon, was currently going through what was to be his last stack of files before turning in. Though the workload was tiring and the act of spot checking all these forms was annoying, the elderly warrior felt it was a great distraction from all of the trials and tribulations he was currently having to put up with.

Though things had been generally peaceful around the village over the course of the last few months, the Third leader of _Konohagakure_ and currently the most powerful Kage in the Five Great Nations, was being forced to deal with an incredibly tenuous political situation unravelling in his midst. It was a problem that'd been a persistent issue since the founding of the hidden leaf and something that'd been weighing on the minds of all the most seasoned members of the community. This was of course the relationship between the hidden leaf and the Uchiha Clan.

Ever since the chaos that'd unfolded seven years ago- resulting in the deaths of not only multiple villagers and shinobi, but also the Fourth Hokage Minato and his wife- the village's former bond with one of the most powerful clans in their district had been greatly shaken. All the trust the rest of the village had with the Uchiha had sunk dramatically, resulting in former allies becoming suspicious of one another and once strong connections between co-workers and friends being strained. Long story short, with the Uchiha being relegated to the outskirts of the hidden leaf and their group's involvement in community affairs and events being shafted in favour of others, the tension between the group and their hometown had been tightened to the point of snapping.

Hiruzen, being the calm, kind, and impartial leader that he was, was now attempting to weather through the storm by negotiating with the head of the Uchiha Clan- Fugaku- in order to come to a more peaceful resolution. However, even after countless days of talk and even face-to-face meetings with his wife- Mikoto Uchiha, who was formerly one of the Fourth Hokage's closest friends- the Third was now running out of options and time.

To make matters worse, news from one of his best operatives- Itachi Uchiha- had informed the Third that the clan was putting together plans to wrest control of the village from him and the other members of the counsel. In other words, rebellion.

With the seas of conflict growing more and more turbulent with each passing day, Hiruzen knew that sooner or later something was bound to happen. It was only a matter of who would be the one to tip the boat first.

"I should speak to Itachi again. Perhaps he and Shisui can come up with some sort of a solution to this mess," Hiruzen mumbled to himself, setting down his pen and reaching up to massage the bridge of his nose. A sharp exhale then left his dry lips as he shook his head against his palm. "Geez. How could things have gotten so out of hand?"

However, just when he thought his night couldn't get any worse, Kami- through all his infinite wisdom- decided to throw the old man a curve ball.

Suddenly, just as the man was fussing over a document requesting more funds towards the production of resources for the hospital, a sudden tremor and a distant rumble caught his attention. Noticing the lights of his office flicker as a result of the sudden shockwave, the Third at first thought that the village had been hit by some sort of quake or that they were experiencing a big power surge. But then, as screams from outside suddenly began to filter in through his open window, Hiruzen became aware of a very foul and hateful presence.

Sweat breaking out on his brow, the elder stood up sharply when he detected an enormous amount of dark chakra perforating the air. The potency of which he recognized all too well.

"It… It can't be," he stuttered, rushing around his chair and looking out his window.

When his eyes stared across the village, the Third Hokage felt his jaw drop when he saw standing directly in the heart of the village, the enormous, towering form of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. Its body lit up by the lights of the street beneath it, the orange, furry behemoth of destruction loomed over several whole blocks of the village as its massive tails whipped about through the air directly behind it. As it rose up higher from its crouched position, its hands and feet buried into four separate buildings that'd caved in under its weight, the creature looked up from beneath the shadow of its brow and flashed a pair of golden eyes- almost like it was reflecting the moonlight itself.

Hiruzen almost backed up into his desk when he thought the Nine-Tails was glaring right at him. For all intents and purposes, it may as well have been, as its enormous gaze was now fixed squarely upon the Hokage Tower and, by extension, the Hokage Monument directly behind it.

"This… is impossible," the Third stuttered, unable to believe what he was seeing as smoke rose up from the sites of the buildings that'd been crushed by the beast. When he saw the creature lurch forward and slam another palm into the ground, burying it into an open road and between several stores, the Hokage clenched his teeth and snarled. "What in the world happened? Did the seal break? Did Naruto-kun somehow manage to… no… it… it couldn't be that simple…"

The Third knew that the boy wouldn't have been able to crack open the barrier placed upon him by his father of all people. There was just no way. Something else must've happened to the child that caused the fox to burst free from its cage and back out into the open. But despite his best efforts, the Professor- the would-be _God of Shinobi_\- just couldn't figure it out.

However, of all the thoughts, theories, reasons, and suspicions that went shooting through Hiruzen's head at light speed, there was one thought that stood out that had the old warrior's fists clench fearfully. As much as he didn't want to think about it, there was no way he could put it off.

"_Was… Naruto-kun killed…?" _the Third thought, not wanting to admit it but knowing that if the Nine-Tailed Fox had managed to break free, then there was a good chance that Naruto had perished in the process. Either by the transformation or by the beast itself.

After the enormous fox panted and snarled at the centre of the village laid out in front of it, the beast bared its fangs in a very menacing manner before, upon drawing breath, gave a deafening howl that sent shockwaves rippling across the entire village. The buildings shook and the ground tremored, sending not only waves of dust tearing through the roads, but sent the people running for the hills.

Even the shinobi who were in the immediate vicinity of the beast or standing directly beneath the creature when it appeared fled in terror.

"Hokage-sama!"

Perking up to the voices that entered his room, Hiruzen turned to see a squad of ANBU land directly behind him- among which were Tenzo and Yugao. The moment he saw the uniformed, mask-wearing members of the village's infamous Black Ops touch down behind him, the elder turned to face them completely and swung his arm out.

"Send out an emergency alert to every shinobi in the region! All Chunin and Jonin are to report to battle stations immediately! Have all squadron leaders form a perimeter around the Kyuubi and the reserve forces evacuate the civilians inside the walls!" Hiruzen shouted, drawing nods of understanding from the ANBU, before the man then directed his attention towards the purple haired Yugao specifically. "And tell Inoichi-"

"Hokage-sama! The Kyuubi!" Tenzo suddenly interrupted, the man rising from the floor in alarm as his mask's gaze fixed upon the window directly behind the village leader.

Stopping short in his instructions, Hiruzen then spun around to see what had gotten his ANBU so riled up. That was when he saw- to his utter horror- the Nine-Tailed Fox with its jaws pointed skywards, and black and white pellets of chakra spinning and condensing at high speed around a large, black sphere, which was rapidly gaining form and size in front of the kitsune's mouth. Through the aid of its nine tails, this process was further accelerated, causing the ball to grow larger and larger.

In a matter of seconds, the Kyuubi had managed to create a Tailed-Beast Ball that was two times larger than itself- one that was now eclipsing the moon and the sky above it.

The sight of the attack building to such an impossible size had all civilians- adults and children alike- staring in awe as the gargantuan black sphere trembled above the Kyuubi's body. The low hum that it made, as well as the fact that all the wind in the region had stopped due to the atmospheric inversion created by the highly dense body of chakra, made it clear that the object had achieved critical mass.

Almost immediately upon seeing the Kyuubi finish charging the largest Tailed Beast Ball ever witnessed by anyone, Hiruzen's hand dropped uselessly to his side.

"It's over. We're finished…"

The Third braced himself for the inevitable- shutting his eyes tight and waiting for the massive beast to let loose its Bijudama upon the village and transform the entire area into a smoking crater. Considering their current state of unreadiness, lying in the path of the fox's gaze and beneath the shadow of its signature attack, the elderly leader knew that this was undoubtedly check mate.

However, after waiting several moments for the crushing shockwave and the resulting inferno to engulf and vaporize them, the Hokage then blinked his eyes back toward the window when he realized that they were still alive and breathing. Wondering why the Kyuubi was taking so long to finish the job, Hiruzen looked out his office to find a rather strange sight waiting them.

Though the Nine-Tails was still outside and holding the massive Bijudama over its head, the fox was keeping it in place with its tails. At the same time the beast had removed its jaws from the air and was now gazing down at the village with a calm and less aggressive expression in play, its teeth slightly bared while its raised fur slowly lowered back along the length of his body.

While the people positioned beneath the demon continued waiting for the inevitable final attack, Hiruzen and the squadron of ANBU behind him couldn't help but stare at it in confusion- wondering why it suddenly halted its finishing attack.

"W-What's going on…?" Yugao asked out loud. "Why isn't it attacking?"

The old village leader shook his head. "I… I don't know…"

Something must've spooked the fox. Or… maybe something was going on inside it that'd caused the creature to freeze up, locking it into a standstill.

But what?

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

_**Author's Note:**_ You know what, I'm gonna be a bit of a prick and leave it at a cliff-hanger so you guys can stew for a bit. lol

I pretty much copy-and-pasted Yakumo's abilities into the explanation of this chapter, enhancing Ido's backstory and conception, Yakumo's potential, and illustrating the kind of threat a genius genjutsu user and an inheritor of the most powerful genjutsu kekkei genkai can pose to the world.

Say what you will about Yakumo's capabilities in this fic, but I had to upscale some things in order to balance out the playing field a little bit- especially considering what happens in the latter parts of the canon storyline. Bear in mind the anime arcs and filler episodes in both Naruto Origins and the Shippuden series all took place and were created before the Sage of Six Paths, Sage Mode, Madara's broken-ass powers and abilities as a villain and Hashirama's OP retconning, and even the Otsutsuki were introduced (which, I would like to point out, creates so many plot holes and problems in the Naruto story I don't even want to begin listing them off since I'll be here all day bitching about them), which leaves me with only scraps to work with, but a lot of room to do some retconning of my own. However, there are a few things I'd like to point out that I noticed in the anime filler arc where Yakumo and Ido were the main focus.

The statements behind Ido being sealed was that Ido, if left unchecked and allowed to take over Yakumo and use her genjutsu, could pose an enormous threat to the village of potentially Kyuubi disaster levels. Yakumo's backstory in this regard mirrors Naruto's quite a lot, especially since the entity she had inside of her (when it took control of her) was able to place the entire village under a powerful genjutsu, alter the environment in extreme ways, knock people unconscious, kill people with visual tricks alone, damage people physically, and granted Yakumo the ability to potentially render people from existence just by using her abilities. If you were to put all these abilities into a more capable person's hands, the usage behind these skills is quite terrifying.

Now, obviously, Ido by itself wouldn't be able to do much to affect something like the Kyuubi. However, genjutsu on its own is actually quite a formidable and tricky field to handle, and is something that very few shinobi, even biju, are capable of dealing with. While the Mangekyo Sharingan can cast powerful illusions and the Rinnegan can put people into comatose states, the normal Sharingan that was used by pretty much most of the Uchiha Clan, when in the hands of the right users, is capable of controlling biju just by looking at them and place people under subtle genjutsu, Kurenai's genjutsu could stop a beast like Kisame dead in his tracks by sinking him into the floor, and Tayuya's genjutsu could paralyze both Itachi and Sasuke simultaneously, despite them being formidable genjutsu users themselves (perhaps in the top three of genjutsu users in the series), and were only able to break out of her illusion by casting genjutsu on each other (which was fortunate, since they were looking right at each other before they were paralyzed). That being said, to say that Yakumo couldn't do the same thing as the abovementioned would be unfair, especially since she is someone born with ALL of her clan's genjutsu abilities and the most powerful kekkei genkai genjutsu - all coupled with her lack of screen time.

You can argue the point as much as you want, but since Yakumo has very little backstory to work with and doesn't appear in the series beyond the filler arcs (unsurprisingly), by making her a more integral part to the canon timeline and giving her clan more gravitas on top of what has already been established, she becomes a very interesting chess piece in this game of shinobi.

Though I hate what Kishimoto did by introducing the Otsutsuki into the story, the Sage of Six Paths, the God Tree and what not, I may as well work with what I'm given (despite how shit it is concenptually. I can badmouth Kishimoto all I want over his decision to add aliens into his fic to make his story about ninja more Dragonball Z. I don't care. I'll keep hating that aspect and arc of Naruto until the day I die).


End file.
